KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today said that both Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely) and Rongsheng Petrochemical Co has given their assurance that they will prioritise in giving jobs to locals for their Malaysian plants.
Anwar said these were among the promise made by the two China based companies in regards to their Malaysian plants.
“Geely and Rongsheng has assured that all job opportunists will be focus on locals and it includes business opportunities. The entire circuit of their local setup will only be handled by local companies,” Anwar told the Parliament during the Prime Minister’s Question Time.
He said China has only made one request so far which is to allow hiring of professionals with skills that are not available in Malaysia.
“Apart from that, starting with Geely, they have agreed to train locals in both Malaysia and China and they have agreed to begin this year. For starters, Geely will be bringing 300 Malaysians to China for specialisation training,” he said.
Meanwhile, in a supplementary question, DAP’s Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran asked if Anwar would also embark on a similar visit to India, to which the Prime Minister asked to be given some time for that.
Anwar said China supports his suggestion of forming an Asian Monetary Fund, something he proposed when he was the Finance Minister previously.
“I threw that motion in the open when I was in China, and President Xi Jinping himself immediately offered his support (for the proposal on the Asian Monetary Fund), and he welcomed discussions with Malaysia,” Anwar said.
He said there was no reason for Malaysia to continue depending on the US dollar and that Bank Negara Malaysia is currently looking at enabling both China and Malaysia to negotiate on trade matters using the Ringgit and Renminbi.
“I did suggest this when I was the finance minister back in the day.
“But at the time, the US dollar was still seen as strong. It’s different now, with the strength of the economies in China, Japan and others.
“I think we should discuss this, at least consider an Asian Monetary Fund, and, secondly, the use of ringgit and respective country’s currencies,” he added.
Source: https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2023/04/04/pm-anwar-china-based-companies-in-malaysia-will-focus-on-hiring-locals/63135