As corporate human resource development (HRD) practitioner, I realized Malaysian workers are an asset to be invested in - not a cost to be cut. There are many CEOs across the country that, and who are competing and winning in the global economy by creating good jobs and building their business rather than firing workers and stripping their companies for parts. But some businesses take the opposite view - which is bad for workers and bad for economy of our country. Corporations that cut costs and fire workers in order to meet some arbitrary target on a quarterly report may reach their short-term goals, but they're hurting themselves in the long run. Ours is a 80 percent consumption economy, which means that if we really want growth, we need to raise incomes.
In this context, I must sincerely thank the 1.4k readers who had viewed positively my story title “Beyond celebrating Merdeka Day, it is an ongoing call for unity, responsibility & freedom of the mind” published by newswav.com dated 17 August 2026. In particular, I appreciate the encouraging feedback stated by reader @Emphil. Experience has taught me that when workers' paychecks grow, Malaysia grow. Investing in workers can pay off even for executives, too.
At one of the forums in conjunction with Merdeka Day organized by Sejahtera Leadership Initiative (SLI), my team resolved that “We need to rewrite the rules in corporate Malaysia, bring a long-term view back to boardrooms and executive suites, and make sure that as our economy grows & our companies get more and more profitable, our workers get a piece of the pie.” That's why we will always “Encourage companies to invest in their workers; Support the workers' rights and union rights; Close the loopholes that help companies ship jobs & profits overseas; and, Make trade a fair deal for Malaysian workers.”
Zulkifly Baharom (hajizul50@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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