KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Malaysian executives urged the government Tuesday not to make race a criterion for hiring, reflecting fears that some companies will have to employ more ethnic Malays at the expense of minority Chinese and Indians

Companies listed on Malaysia's stock exchange are generally expected to have a significant number of employees from the Malay majority. The rule — part of affirmative action policies to help Malays — has not been strictly enforced, but most large firms mix Malay staff with Chinese and Indians.

Though Malays are in a majority in the population, ethnic Chinese have long dominated the country's commercial sector..

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced Friday that starting next year, publicly listed firms must disclose their employment composition by race as part of efforts to boost corporate social responsibility.

The directive has prompted debate about whether the government might pressure companies to ensure that their racial mix mirrors Malaysia's ethnic makeup more closely.

Puan Chan Cheong, managing director of broadband technology provider Green Packet Bhd., said firms need to hire people who are "the best fit for the job, regardless of race," in order to compete internationally.

"We employ according to merits," Puan told The Associated Press. "Competency is the key consideration, not racial composition."

Gooi Seong Lim, managing director of investment holding company Crescendo Corp. Bhd., said the company sometimes has no choice but to recruit mostly Chinese and Indians for civil engineering works because there are too few Malay candidates.

"I believe the government will be reasonable," he told the AP. "It would be very difficult to conform to a strict racial breakdown."

Malays comprise about 60 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people. Chinese form some 25 percent, Indians nearly 10 percent and the rest belong to other minorities. The ethnic communities have coexisted peacefully since racial riots left at least 200 dead in 1969. They were sparked by Malay frustration over Chinese wealth.

The New Straits Times newspaper quoted Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop as saying the government will not necessarily penalize companies that fail to have employees from all races after the new directive takes effect next year.

"We are not saying we will take action," the Times quoted him as saying. It was not immediately clear how the new directive would be enforced.

Decades-old affirmative action policies — geared toward helping Malays catch up with the Chinese by giving them privileges in areas like education, housing, bank loans and government contracts — are one of Malaysia's most politically sensitive subjects.

This is what MCA Economic Bureau have to say:

MCA unit: Drop race disclosure rule for listed firms
source

PETALING JAYA: The MCA Youth Economic Bureau supports the statement made by Kota Melaka MP Wong Nai Chee that corporate social responsibility in public-listed companies should not be based along racial lines as proposed in the recent Budget 2008. 

In a press statement issued here, the bureau chief Datuk Henry Wong Tat Chee said the business community was unhappy with the proposal that the companies disclose employment composition by race. 

He said programmes undertaken to develop domestic and bumiputra vendors might result in a form of micro-restructuring that could result in loss of income and employment opportunities for non-bumiputras. 

“If such a racially-based quota is imposed, it will affect growth opportunities for fully qualified and merit-based non-bumiputra job applicants or vendors, who will be sidelined in favour of bumiputra recruits and suppliers for (public-listed companies),” he added. 

Nai Chee had said the very idea of corporate social responsibility based along racial lines would run against the spirit and responsibility of contributing towards the betterment of society regardless of ethnicity. 

Tat Chee said the commercial sector had expressed their unhappiness before..  

Two years ago, the Economic Planning Unit hired a foreign consultancy firm to audit all private companies about their racial composition and corporate plans to increase bumiputra composition in the employment and vendor programmes, he added. 

“The private corporations refused to cooperate in this exercise. This itself was a clear indication that the commercial entities were not in favour of such a practice,” said Tat Chee. 

“The private sector relies solely on its own resources to hire personnel who can work most efficiently and productively for the company. 

“This is opposed to the public sector that uses public funds, that should be distributed equally to all races especially for recruitment into the civil service and government procurement and tenders,” he said.