Sam G, who works in the electronics sector, shares with us the grim outlook in the industry and the ruthless way workers – and even management staff – are being retrenched:
…. it is REALLY, REALLY BAD now. I was at the USM EKSPEN 09. Only 11 companies were there having open interviews! This is one Expo to get companies to interview graduating USM students!
I have been retrenched twice in four months, first by the largest lab equipment manufacturer in the world, and the second time, by a NanoTech equipment manufacturing company.
Orders have dropped by 40-60 per cent in many companies in Penang. SMI factories supporting the MNCs and the larger companies are winding up/closing shop by the dozens…
I don’t know how the Government continue to paint an “okay” picture. I can give you more real life stories…
The big question now is, what kind of social safety nets do we have in place to look after the families of retrenched workers? How are they going to manage? Is “retraining” alone enough?
Many have been asking for a national retrenchment fund.
Many large companies have pulled out citing fear of political instability. FDI has dropped a lot. Can you blame investors? When even the sanctity of parliament is violated and no prompt action taken, how can the Mat Salleh trust us anymore?
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The party is over
The garden party hit the ground
The clutches of downtrends arrive
Holding our heads high
We have been fooled
Bee Anne painted colorful rosy pictures
When others fall desperately looking for a way out
Our leaders telling us a fairy tale story
“Everything is alright Mama, everything is alright!”
When the world economy hit bottom
Bee Anne never wakes up to hit the button
The leaders going out with sleeping mentality
When the waves hit the shore
“Arrive already ah”
FDI floating out so fast
Confidence wane investors run
And the government takes walking time
Preparing its stimulus packages
It just never hit into its head
Run now walking is history
Time delay time lose
In the ever changing economic situation
People are crying when employment is gone
This time the bull pokes our noses well
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The food hawkers are still having it real good. They even still increased the price of my fried rice!! I’m eating bread now,one large one can be kept fresh in the freezer(for freshness) and toasted anytime I want.I’m making my of coffee now it’s abt 50-40sens if you care to do the costing.
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This is some assistance to those retrenched & keen to do some training/skills enhancement. The Government has proposed several re-training programs. There is a Training Allowance of between RM500 to RM800 based on your marital status. The application forms can be downloaded from http://www.dsd.gov.my. Please do it fast as the closing date is March 08, 2009. They have also committed to placement after completion of re-training program.
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Please do not depends on the gomen .. what the care is their own cronies .. since when they think of the people ..
in order to help proton, they go and introduce the RM5K to buy back the old car .. what is the point of buying a new car where people are facing with job retrenchment … no work how to pay the loans ..
food increase for a year , but no action, the standard living is still high …
toll increase , then postponed the incrase but using our tax payer money to pay compensation 280 million ..
eletricity increase 18% decrease 3%
fed is direct neg with water companies and doesnt support selangor pr gomen to take over .. helping the cronies to increase the water tariff soon ..
but the most item that i am anger is the gomen denial mode on saying our economy is strong .. even our neighbour singapore arlready announce their recession is deeper .. and our fiance minister only busy capaigning for the perak and party election ..
Look at singapore , they are using the stimuls fund to start building the university, goverment building and others .. singaporean said , this is the best time to build as the material is cheap .. and by the same time create more jobs ….
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They rather spend another RM400 million on Tourism spending spree than retrenchment fund for the really needy.
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And the ringgit is falling fast. It is now 3.72 or 3.73 to the USD this morning. Really grim times are here and things are going to get worst. I was having lunch in a restaurant in Penang over the weekend and only 2 tables were occupied, including mine, for the whole afternoon!!!
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Parliament is supposed to be the safest place to be and if someone in Parliament can nearly kena hantam, you can imagine how investors feel about security and stability in this country.
Somemore, the potential victim, was in a wheelchair!!!
My Mat Salleh friends are all so shocked.
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Yeah, it’s really grim. Although the political baruohaha has ‘affected’ the FDI’s, i doubt that it is the main factor in this recesssion.
It’s the denial of the incompetents running our nations economy – most inefficent. Instead of pre-emption, they always end up in knee-jerk reaction akin to the brain dead! The ‘stimulus’ packages are too little too late, and as usual trapped in an intractable bureaucracy. They are just for the’stim’ and titillation of their masters. Do ‘they’ really care about the rakyat? Trickle down economics?
The second stimulus ain’t going to do anything, if its just to rebuild/redecorate gomen stuff. It is time to concentrate on ‘real’ infrastucture and give more subsidies/incentives to private sector, esp those in most desparate need.
Re-training as it is just an ad-hoc measure not applicable to most wage earners at the end of their tether.
This is when micro-credit is most effective.
I’m going to sell headless chicken rice from now on…
Cheers & tears
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our electronic industry has always been relying more on exports then local market. in fact, i dare say our country’s push into industrialisation age is more towards pushing up exports first, then only for local consumption. So when the export market contracts, there is really nothing much these factories can do except to contract also. i’m also wondering, what would i precribe to this ailing industries except to say hold on tight and hope things turn better soon.
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The question is not whether the economy is heading south but rather how long is it going to last. I’m working in an SMI doing low end consumer product and supposed to be quite recession proof but there was a downtrend of close to 20% in the past few months. Orders have already been down lately. A friend who runs a precision engineering outfit has been hit by nearly 60% reduction in business and is on the brink of giving up totally. The outlook is not good for the short and medium term probably up to two years ahead. It’s anybody guess what comes after that. We’re going to see a lot of sob stories and probably a few suicides too. The government of course is still in denial. Crony business like the highwaymen are still asking for more handouts so they can make bigger profit.
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Hi Anil,
State of the economy ? Well have a look at who is buying at the BURSA,
EPF a heavy buyer at the expense of the contributors.
HEAVY LOSSES is incurred but it keeps on buying to prop up the index.
What fool hardy investment is this.
Foreign fund managers are all out of the game, Retail players are ….. every time they go in.Experienced retail players are tending to their garden /grandkds.
It is said by mathias that the index will hit 740.
You figure it out.
BILLIONS GONE DOWN THE DRAIN .
A very pertinient question will be “WHO IS EPFs REMISER /DEALER? ?
YES HE/they alone make a few millions.
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Folks, don’t put any hopes in the Government.
The government is putting in place a safety net for connected cronies…that’s what the RM 7 Billion first stimulus package was intended for.
The rest of us can eat cake…
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Maybe it’s time to go back to cottage industries, as per the book “Small is Beautiful”. Small home- or village-based industries that produce food, handicraft, furniture, etc. It has the capacity to absorb the unemployed.
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However bad it is…..it is still not bad….if it is really bad….people will be out in the streets to kick the BN govt out…….especially in Perak….where during these trying times….they tried to take over thru UMNO’s famed “belakang mari” approach………..so more politics….more chaos….no food on the table…….
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The writing is on the wall for the economy. The govrn. is fighting for its survival and how to put as much money into their pockets before everything goes bust.
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THe 7 billion wil never trickle down to these small people as far as the next PM is concerned, it’ll (probably) be distributed among the crony companies… Didn’t they sang the ‘Ubah gaya hidup” last year? That was when money not enough. This year, tak payah hidup lagi, coz no more money! The worst fear is that people will resort to desperate measures in desperate times.
I thnk the government should seriously consider allowing people who have passed 40 yrs of age and being retrenched to make some small withdrawal from their EPF to tie in in these trying times. At the very least, they can put some food on the tables and feed their families. Many live from month to month without savings as the mortgage for the house usually takes up whatever little savings they plan to have.
These people can probably work again when times are better in 2-3 years, and can contrribute again to the EPF then.
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If one is unemployed or soon to be out of job
Robert Kiyosaki advised, “Go into MLM.”
Having gone through life for near 3-score years, I would agree that this option affords the best training for self-sufficiency.
Survival of the fittest, Only the fittest survives.
Don’t depend too much on training or re-training sponsored by some authorities. This is just to ward off the issue of retrenchment or unemployment. One would still have to look for a job after the programmes. Could the training make on stand on his own feet?
The problem is there and must not be swept under the carpet.
Seek self-employment. Don’t always depend on employment. What good is education if it educates us to be employees all our lifetime.
Robert Kiyosaki has proposed a solution. Join MLM, don’t be shy about selling. Selling is not stealing. Be proud of it and it will be proud of you in time. Ready? Now, cross the Rubicon…
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After the fracas in Parliament and after the fiasco in Perak tomorrow, there will not be any FDI coming in. There is uncertainty in both the stability of the country AND the respect of the law which raise the risk level very high.
One of the strength of Malaysia is the legal system. The government respect for its own law is now a big suspect.
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bn way of solution.
tax the termination benefits!
BN Boleh.
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Unfortunately, the whole world and Malaysians knows this except for Pak Lah, Najib and BN-UMNO.
The country is going into a death spiral and we have to wait till next GE to do something about it, that is if we are all still around lah.
Only a miracle now can pull us out of this s*** hole.
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From Malaysiab Bar Council website
Perak Speaker can appoint private lawyers
Tuesday, 03 March 2009 12:43pm
©loyarburok.com
The restriction in the Government Proceedings Act on “public officers” using private lawyers only with the permission of the Attorney General does not apply to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Perak defending a suit brought against him in his capacity as Speaker. Thus, the Ipoh High Court decision to bar Tommy Thomas and others from acting for Speaker Sivakumar is, with respect, wrong.
It appears that Ipoh High Court Judicial Commissioner Yang Arif Tuan Ridwan bin Ibrahim has ruled that private lawyers cannot appear on behalf of Speaker of the Perak State Assembly Sivakumar in the litigation against him brought by UMNO Assemblypersons because of the Government Proceedings Act 1956.
This decision is of particular interest to those concerned with the right of litigants to have an advocate to champion his cause in Court without fear or favour. Regrettably, and with respect, it appears that this decision does not seem to be in line with the provisions of the Government Proceedings Act 1956 read together with the Federal Constitution.
Section 24(3) of the Government Proceedings Act 1956 seems to suggest that the State Legal Adviser must retain advocates and solicitors in order to act on behalf of the “State government” or “State officers” in “civil proceedings by or against the Government of a State or a State officer”. This follows on from sections 24(1) and (2) which provide that law officers (meaning lawyers from the Attorney General’s Chambers) “may” act on behalf of “public officers” who are sued by virtue of his office.
Thus, the law allows for the Attorney General’s Chambers to act or to appoint private lawyers to act for cases against public officers.
The term “public officer” is not defined in the Government Proceedings Act 1956. The Interpretation Act has the following definitions:-
“public office” means an office in any of the public services;
“public officer” means a person lawfully holding, acting in or exercising the functions of a public office;
“public services” means the public services mentioned in Article 132 (1) of the Federal Constitution;
Article 132(1) of the Federal Constitution lists out several public services such as the armed forces, the judicial and legal services, the police service and the general public service. In a nutshell, the public services are what is commonly called government service or civil service.
But Article 132(3)(b) is instructive. It categorically states that “the public service shall not be taken to comprise” the Speakers of Parliament and the Legislative Assemblies of the State.
Hence, it appears that the restriction in the Government Proceedings Act on public officers using private lawyers only with the permission of the Attorney General does not apply to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Perak defending a suit brought against him in his capacity as Speaker.
Thus, the Ipoh High Court decision to bar Tommy Thomas and others from acting for Speaker Sivakumar is, with respect, wrong.
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1. We need to read up on how people survived the Great Depression
of the late 1920s and the early 1930s.
2. Leaving aside the very ugly side of fascism for the moment, it would be useful to find out how the economic policies of the Nazi/fascist regimes of Germany and Japan enabled them to overcome economic problems quickly during that time.
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