KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 7): The Malaysian Rubber Council (MRC), an agency governed by the Ministry of Plantation and Commodities (MPC), has allocated a total budget of RM17.3 million for the Hiring Malaysian Workers Fund (HMWF) 2.0, an initiative for encouraging Malaysian employees’ involvement  in the rubber industry.

The HMWF is in line with the government's policy of prioritising the creation of more job opportunities for Malaysians, while addressing the manpower shortage issue.

MRC senior director sustainability Fauzi Mohd Ghazali said employers and Malaysian employees will be able to benefit from the HMWF 2.0 through the reimbursement of the cost of Perkeso and Employment Insurance System (EIS) contributions made for the employees and by the employees respectively.

“There is also a one-off mobility assistance worth RM1,000 for employees who migrated more than 50 kilometres to another location for work,” he said during his opening speech at the Hiring Malaysian Workers Fund 2.0.

Fauzi said that MRC has allocated RM1.77 million for Social Security Organisation’s (Perkeso) self-employed insurance scheme for 38,000 smallholders registered under the Malaysian Rubber Board’s PAT-G system for one-year coverage.

He is confident that this initiative will help boost the country’s economic growth, which will indirectly encourage young people, particularly those applying for their first job, to consider joining the rubber industry in future.

HMWF 2.0 is an extended initiative over the previous edition, with added advantages and will be extended to more stakeholders in the rubber industry in collaboration with Perkeso and the Malaysian Rubber Board.

The fund was first initiated in August 2020 during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, when the industry was experiencing a manpower shortage in meeting the supply for the demand for rubber gloves around the world.