The announcement by the Deputy Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Zahid Hamidi yesterday that the imposition of levy on foreign workers in the fishing industry is postponed is again an example of the BN government making a decision affecting the fishing industry without consulting those involved in the fishing industry. We have seen many government flip flop decisions with regard to the fishing industry in the past causing sleepless nights to those in the fishing industry. Whether it was the decision to ban trawling, the size of the hole of the fishing net allowed, the type of containers allowed to store the fishes, the requirement to install black box on the fishing boat, the distance from the shore fishermen were allowed to fish, they were made without proper consultation with the stakeholders. The BN government has scant regard for those involved in the fishing industry paying only lips service the importance of the fishing industry to our nation.
The BN government had earlier decided that commencing from the 1st of March, 2017 the government will withdraw the levy exemption on foreign workers employed in the fishing industry. The withdrawal of exemption is an imposition of a new tax on the industry.
Owners of fishing vessels and others employing foreign workers in the industry will be greatly burdened with this additional cost.
In the past, the government recognized the difficulties faced by the fishing industry and always found ways to help the industry including the supply of highly subsidized fuel to the industry. The decision now to impose levy on the foreign workers is a change of the government policy to impose tax on the industry rather than to help the industry.
The government must ensure the existing taxes collected are not lost through mismanagement, pilferage and corruption rather than imposing new taxes on the people. The just retired Auditor General, Tan Sri Ambrin bin Buang has stated that the government lost between 10% to 30% of the amount spent in the construction projects due to mismanagement and about 20% to 30% of the projects value due to corruption. Therefore, the lost can be between 30% to 60% for a project carried by the government.
Fish used to be a very affordable source of protein for most Malaysians but not anymore. The prices of fish have escalated as much (prices of same types of fish have doubled in price lately) making it no longer affordable to many. If levy is imposed on the foreign workers in the fishing industry, this additional cost will be passed on to the consumers and prices of seafood will hike further. The BN government must realize that the people are already heavily burdened with the drastic rise in the prices of goods due to GST, fuel and electricity hikes.
Importing cheaper fishes from neighbouring countries is not the solution because it will cause the collapse of our fishing industry. In the event that we have to rely our source of seafood from foreign countries, it will cause outflow of funds from the country and cause many to be unemployed. The solution is to keep our fishing industry competitive.
I call on the government to announce that the exemption of levy on the foreign workers working in the fishing industry is the current policy of the government. Merely announcing the postponement of the levy imposition will cause those in the fishing industry to continue to worry as it will only be a matter of time it will be imposed.