00:01Malaysia's long-term answer to stagnant wages is to raise productivity,
00:04not one-off handouts or artificial pay hikes.
00:09Finance Ministry Secretary-General Johan Mahmoud Merikan
00:12says that while raising the minimum wage can help,
00:14the real driver of higher pay is creating high-value jobs
00:17through innovation and technology.
00:19That's part of the effort on both digitalisation and automation and mechanisation,
00:23which will hopefully raise productivity, and with that, higher wages.
00:27He explained that under budget 2026,
00:29SMEs will be able to tap matching grants of up to RM5,000
00:32to adopt digital tools like accounting software,
00:35point-of-sale systems, and e-commerce platforms.
00:38This push has already transformed many traditional businesses,
00:41making cashless payments and digital transactions the norm.
00:45These are sort of things to promote the SMEs to move up.
00:48And we've seen some successes as you, you know, in terms of cashless, you know.
00:53Once upon a time, we were very predominantly cashed,
00:55not even at Ngurai Kichogun who uses QR code for payment.
00:59In agriculture, new automation incentives are helping address productivity bottlenecks and labour shortages.
01:05Tools like drones for fertilising and spraying are making the sector more attractive to locals,
01:10who can now work as drone pilots or machine technicians.
01:13When we then have solutions such as that becoming more and more widespread,
01:20not only does it reduce the dependency on foreign labour,
01:24but it becomes a lot more credible to attract and retain Malaysian workers.
01:29Meanwhile, the government is encouraging GLCs to set benchmarks for living wages in the hopes the wider private sector will follow suit.
01:36Johan stressed that these strategies complement near-term support for households,
01:41but the ultimate goal is an economy where innovation-led firms and skilled Malaysians lift income organically.
01:47Imran Arif, FMT
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