BY: LEANNE K

In Malaysia’s changing media industry, it is believed that a number of operators are struggling to pay salaries due to economic pressures and also because of the fact that advertising budgets have shifted from mainstream media to social media.

Communications Minister, Fahmi Fadzil, stated that the government was concerned of the exploitation of media workers and therefore they aim to assist workers in the industry by devising effective mechanisms.

But he stopped short of giving an assurance that the federal government will introduce regulatory mechanisms, to prevent media workers from being taken advantage of, as there already exists regulations under the Companies Commission of Malaysia.

The communications minister clarified that there are existing regulations, especially concerning employee rights such as contributions to the EPF and Socso, and the government had also no objection to the formation of new media companies.

This follows a police report lodged by 15 employees of Petra News Sdn Bhd on Feb 14 after they checked with EPF, the IRB and Socso which confirmed that the employer failed to make contributions despite making deductions.

Petra News Sdn Bhd, which publishes The Malaysian Insight, The Vibes and Getaran, is among a number of media companies that have failed to fulfill contractual obligations and is deemed to have neglected the welfare of workers.

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE

** The views expressed on this opinion is of the writer and not the publisher