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Saturday, August 5, 2023

Is progressive wage model the solution?

 



Malaysia is set to announce a progressive wage model. What will this mean for the future of employee wages in the country?

Dissecting the practicality of the progressive wage model and its potential impact on Malaysian's welfare


AS the Unity Government continues apace on its attempt to uplift the livelihood of Malaysians, as announced at the launch of the Madani Economy by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim last week, the debate on the best wage structure for the country rages on.

Especially pertinent after a number of announcements by Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli regarding the government’s consideration and proposed implementation of the Progressive Wage Model (PWM), which could be modelled after neighbouring Singapore’s version, wage experts and economists are offering varying opinions on the subject.

To be clear, Singapore unveiled its own PWM since 2012, and according to its National Trades Union Congress, the PWM is based on the key objectives of helping Singaporean workers climb the four ladders of skills upgrading, productivity improvement, career advancement and wage progression, on top of helping companies make better use of and retain their workforce.

Notably, the island nation does not have an official blanket minimum wage structure, except for two sectors, namely for cleaners, where the minimum wage is S$1,000 (RM3,390) per month; and for security guards, who are required by law to be paid S$1,100 (RM3,729) monthly.

However, its Manpower Ministry has outlined the progressive wages (PWS) Singaporean workers are to be paid in a number of sectors, including the landscaping, food services and retail industries.

For example, a local Singaporean working as a cashier has to be paid a minimum of S$1,850 (RM6,277) monthly from Sept 1, 2022, which would increase to S$1,975 (RM6,701) from Sept 1 this year; while a landscape worker would be required to be paid S$1,650 (RM5,599) per month.

Singapore also has a Local Qualifying Salary (LQS) – S$1,400 (RM4,746) – which its Manpower Ministry describes as a determinant for the number of local employees who can be used to calculate a firm’s work permit and S Pass quota entitlement.

Since September last year, firms employing foreign workers who require work permits, S Passes or employment pass holders are mandated to pay PW salaries to local workers covered by the relevant Sectoral or Occupational PWS in the aforementioned cleaning, security, landscape maintenance, and retail sectors as well as in-house workers covered by the PWM, while also remunerating at least the LQS to all other local workers.

Can the PWM be successful here? 

The discussion naturally hinges on whether what Singapore is doing can be implemented here, and what are the benefits of a blanket minimum wage structure as compared to a PWM.

Aside from that, the (business) man on the street could also be concerned as to whether the government has set its sights on making the PWM a mandatory initiative, or would this be optional, perhaps at its nascent stage at least.

As argued by Socio-economic Research Centre (SERC) executive director and economist Lee Heng Guie, the PWM offers more of a winwin solution for both employees and employers, if compared to a blanket minimum wage structure.

By looking deeper into the numbers since Malaysia’s Minimum Wage Order (MWO) was first enforced in 2013, he observes that 2022 marks the fifth time of implementation as the minimum wage rate was reviewed at least once every two years.

“The new minimum wage of RM1,500 per month was fully enforced on July 1, an increase of between 25% and 36.3% compared to the RM1,100 to RM1,200 monthly wage in 2019.

“Over the period from 2013 to 2023, minimum wage has increased by 5.8% per annum from RM900 per month for Peninsular Malaysia and 6.5% per annum from RM800 per month for Sabah and Sarawak on Jan 1, 2013, respectively. However, overall labour productivity increased by only 2.3% per annum for the same period,” he reveals.

As such, Lee says the government is looking into the appropriateness of other wage models to benefit both employees and employers, and he believes the PWM may be an appropriate and feasible substitute wage model to improve the income of low-skilled workers to have a living wage.

Theoretically, a living wage differs from a minimum wage because the former refers not just to the existence of a minimum level of remuneration, but also to a minimum acceptable standard of living, according to the International Labour Organisation.

Therefore, living wage rates are usually higher than the minimum wage rate, especially when the latter has been less frequently updated in line with living cost increases.

While concurring that employees should be compensated according to their skillset, efficiency and education levels, Juwai IQI global chief economist Shan Saeed says the issue of increasing wages and productivity would be best based on a market-driven approach.

He tells Starbizweek this would be best achieved if all stakeholders were to get involved to enhance workers’ productivity to ultimately buttress economic outcomes at the macro level.

“Workers’ efficiency, solid skills and education are major variables in influencing economic growth. In turn, economic expansion and innovation have a direct correlation with strong deliverable outcomes benefiting the masses in improving their living standards and purchasing power,” he points out.

Citing the late Gary Becker, former professor at the University of Chicago Booth School and Nobel Laureate, he says Becker believed that investment in an individual’s education and training is like a business investing into equipment, being the epitome of applying economic analysis to human behaviour.

In addition, he says higher wages allow firms to attract and retain better employees – assuming competitors don’t follow suit and raise their wages as well.

“But there is an important – and often overlooked – second effect. Paying wages that are above the market rate, known within economics as efficiency wages, can also be an important motivating force for a company’s existing employee base.

“The intuition is straightforward: higher wages make a job more desirable. This leads to a larger applicant pool waiting to take over when openings occur and makes it easier to replace another employee. Malaysian companies can follow the similar footprints to achieve desirable outcomes,” says Shan.

Handling a chronic situation

While one can understand the perspective of the SERC when it compares the PWM with the MWO, there are parties who are arguing for the benefits of the MWO before embarking on any “progressive” initiatives.

Even Rafizi has reiterated this week that it is his “job”, through government policy, to prioritise increasing the wages of Malaysians, for them to better cope with rising living expenses.

He emphasised that instead of embarking on new billion-ringgit projects, the unity government has fixed its focus on improving the incomes of Malaysians, echoing Anwar’s warning that the country has been caught in a vicious cycle of high costs, low wages and low profits.

In fact, the argument can be made by looking at Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita over the past 50 years, especially against economies that were considered inferior to it but have since made significant progress, advancing beyond Malaysia’s growth. Two good examples of this, of course, are Singapore itself and South Korea.

For starters, the GDP per capita breaks down a country’s economic output per person, calculated by dividing the GDP of a nation by its population. It is a metric often used by economists to analyse the overall prosperity of a country based on its economic growth.

In an article for Taiwan’s The New Lens, Singaporean writer Roy Ngerng observes: “Up until the late-1970s, Malaysia’s total wages per capita were actually higher than South Korea, and were in fact over three times higher in the early-1970s.

“Today, however, the tables have turned and South Korea’s total wages per capita are about four times higher than Malaysia. The total wages per capita of Czechia and Estonia were also similar to Malaysia’s at one point, but have grown to be about 3.5 times that of Malaysia, while Poland is twice as high.”

On top of that, up until the mid 1980s, Malaysia’s GDP per capita – in US dollar terms – was higher or on par with South Korea, while in the early-1990s, Malaysia’s GDP per capita was also similar to that of the Eastern European countries like Czechia, Estonia and Poland.

“In other words, Malaysia’s economy used to be larger than those countries. However, while the economies of those countries have since expanded rapidly, Malaysia’s GDP per capita stagnated in contrast. Today, South Korea’s economy has grown to three times larger than Malaysia,” says Ngerng.

He says the reason is because Malaysia’s wages have stagnated relative to these other countries, and consequently it has hurt the growth of domestic consumption.

In contrast to many economists, Ngerng believes it is not necessary at this point in time for Malaysia to adopt Singapore’s PWM, but rather it should focus on increasing minimum wage more rapidly.

Wages at other levels in Malaysia are not growing faster because Malaysia’s minimum wage is rising too slowly, and with wage increase at other levels being dependent on the growth rate of minimum wage, the stagnant minimum wage therefore prevents wages from rising across the board.

As a result of Malaysia’s wages stagnating, this has resulted in its economy stagnating as well, he says.

A cursory look at the GDP per capita numbers taken in December 2022 on CEIC Data sees Malaysia posting a figure of US$12,472 (RM56,828). In comparison, Singapore is way ahead at US$82,794 (RM377,000), with South Korea also almost three times ahead of Malaysia at US$32,236 (RM146,883).

Notably, Czechia registered a GDP per capita of US$27,566 (RM126,000), while Estonia and Poland both posted respective figures of US$28,568 (RM130.165) and US$18,222 (RM83,000).

Is a Pwm-tiered subsidy the way to begin?

Perhaps a move that could also be given some thought would be to make the PWM optional to businesses, with the government at the ready-to-subsidise progressive and productivity-linked wage increases, tied in with certain key performance indicators that could be seen to contribute to the country’s GDP growth, of course.

Again, Singapore has put in place a similar structure, a fiveyear plan to subsidise wage increases, so as to provide support for businesses to pay higher wages.

Malaysia could copy such a programme where the government subsidies wage increases but on an annually decreasing scale, so that as companies grow more financially sound, they would be taken off the subsidy programme after a number of years to manage their own wage growth measures.

Sunway University professor of economics Dr Yeah Kim Leng is striking a more balanced view when he says the PWM is definitely worth experimenting here – given the decades-old problem of depressed skilled and unskilled wages, with the exception of chief executives and senior management.

“To be sustainable, wages need to be linked to increases in efficiency, productivity and competitiveness.

“Where there are wage rigidities and labour market failures due to weak bargaining power of employees, inefficient labour market information systems and lack of skills recognition and certification, the government has strong grounds to adopt more interventionist policies such as minimum wage regulations and progressive wage models,” he tells Starbizweek.

Suggesting a way for implementation, Yeah says the government would need to bring industry players together with workers’ unions or representatives to determine basic wages, skills grading or levels and wage ranges for each skill level.

The wage ladders for each industry will enable employees to upgrade their skills and earn correspondingly higher wages along with greater responsibilities, says Yeah, with the other challenge being to link higher skills with higher productivity that enables the company to be more productive and generate better profits for the sustainability of wage growth.

He opines: “A minimum wage will ensure that no worker is paid below a decent living wage thereby enabling the country to eradicate hardcore poverty, while a progressive wage model has the advantage of ensuring that workers are paid productivity-linked wages and to earn progressively higher wages that commensurate with ‘middle-class’ status.

“A well-designed PWM will contribute eventually towards achieving what we see in advanced economies where blue collar workers earn as much or higher than white collar workers.”

Cultural attitudes: A road block to growth?

However, there also exists the viewpoint where Malaysians on average are culturally less inclined to acquire knowledge and new skills or upgrade themselves, something perhaps anyone with recruiting experience would understand well.

If such is the case, how would the government go about justifying increasing the minimum wage more quickly in this catch22 situation?

This has led Joey Gan, market lead for Singapore-based regional corporate consultancy firm Precious Communications Pte Ltd, to remark that even for the citystate, one of the primary challenges in implementing PWM is that many training programmes require a certain level of literacy, basic education, or even certifications, but unfortunately, a significant proportion of workers do not meet these requirements.

“I believe Malaysia may also face a similar challenge, on top of the obvious cost factor for many companies. Moreover, the readiness of workers to upskill and adapt to new opportunities is also a key obstacle.

“Personal development through training largely depends on an individual’s internal motivation. Therefore, for this initiative to succeed, employees would need to undergo a radical change in attitude towards training for upward social mobility,” she says.

While a beneficial step would be to prioritise employees’ welfare by implementing some form of PWM, she believes that replicating Singapore’s approach might not be feasible without comparable government incentives – such as subsidies for training and wage increments – especially for Malaysian businesses already burdened with rising operational costs.

Ergo, Gan says employers might prefer the reverse income tax model, while employees may appreciate a reasonable wage increase that keeps pace with inflation.

Resonating with SERC’S Lee, she notes: “The PWM is a more holistic approach to help our low-wage earners enhance their skills and, in turn, their productivity, so increased wages are the ultimate result of this progression.

“While PWM is not without its challenges, it offers employers better productivity from their workforce, considering the cost, and employees benefit from developing and evolving skill sets over time. In the end, it’s a win-win situation where both employers and employees gain from this approach.”

More crucially, however, she points out that the high productivity and standards in Singapore are a result of both the young and the elderly realising that there is no guaranteed help or support as they age.

This awareness, says Gan, is the major reason that has motivated Singaporeans to work harder and longer to secure a better future, despite the role that the PWM may have played.

“It is essential for our entire workforce, regardless of our wage band, to embrace a growth mindset. Increasing wages goes hand in hand with continuous learning, skill development and improvement.

“To facilitate this growth, it is essential for the government and companies to collaborate and propose people-centric policies that support the development of a highly skilled workforce,” she says.

The Star - StarBiz
By keith Hiew keith.hsk@thestar.com.my

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Friday, August 4, 2023

Malaysia needs better infrastruchure

 


Matsuda said one way Malaysia can become more resilient in times of trouble is to ensure equal basic infrastructure for all, which includes efficiency in government assistance as well as making information more accessible.


“There is definitely room for improvement in terms of transparency and the dissemination of cash transfers. The cash transfers were a good idea but leakages and wastage did take place,”

- Yasuhiko Matsuda


Digital divide results in poor people having no access to government assistance during Covid-19

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia needs a stronger infrastructure in place in order to mitigate any future crises that may arise and impacting its people and economy, says World Bank country manager for Malaysia, Yasuhiko Matsuda.

Matsuda said while the majority of people suffered during the Covid-19 pandemic, smaller businesses and vulnerable households were impacted more, partly because they had little or no access to government assistance.

“One main reason was because of the digital divide. Poorer people had no Internet and so they didn’t have the information they needed to apply for these forms of assistance,” he said.

He was speaking to reporters during the “Building Malaysia’s Resilience, Lessons from Covid-19 Economic Impact and Policy Responses” conference by the World Bank Group yesterday.

Although nearly 80% of low-income households (monthly earnings of RM2,000 and below) received government assistance, about one-fourth of them did not have access to cash assistance.

More than one-third of households earning more than RM10,000 received the cash assistance.

According to Matsuda, one way Malaysia can become more resilient in times of trouble is to ensure equal basic infrastructure for all, which includes efficiency in government assistance as well as making information more accessible.

“There is definitely room for improvement in terms of transparency and the dissemination of cash transfers. The cash transfers were a good idea but leakages and wastage did take place,” he said.

Matsuda said one challenge that arose in terms of the cash assistance benefit was that while the government managed to cover a somewhat large population, it only managed to give each family a small amount.

He said despite the good intentions, the impact was rendered limited and this showed in the surveys done post-pandemic.

“Moving forward, the government can look at maybe a lesser number of families but provide them with a higher amount of assistance so it is more impactful,” he said.

For the middle class, the government can look into areas of employment or provide people with a mix of different things to try out, especially in this era of digitilisation, he said.

He added that the Madani Economy framework announced this year by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim covers these aspects as the government pledges to work towards realising them.

“A strong economy must go alongside a strong fiscal capacity. Now the key will be how it is implemented,” he noted.

Similarly, World Bank senior economist Ririn Purnamasari said the reality of the “caring effect” of the pandemic recorded some struggling to catch up despite Malaysia’s economy being revived.

“We risk widening the equality gap now and in the future, and as we’ve seen in the report, some sold their assets as a coping method which were meant to generate income,” she said.

The other strategies that could be scarring for people included decreasing essential food expenditure, borrowing from friends and family, and taking children out of school.

While not so evident in Malaysia, it was recorded in countries like Cambodia and the Philippines.

Additionally, Purnamasari said Malaysia needs to be aware of its fiscal capacity and resources, and how it can best help those that need it, while strengthening the economy together.

On top of that, the government should continue collaborating with other relevant bodies to offer labour market programmes for the community.

“One way we will see people moving forward is by upskilling and reskilling them. This will empower them and give them the ability to participate in different fields so it becomes more sustainable for them,” Purnamasari said.

Currently, Malaysia’s labour market is relatively underdeveloped with limited accessibility for workers in the informal sector.

“Integration of programmes across ministries and agencies and increased shock responsiveness can strengthen labour market policies.

“Hiring incentives should be balanced with well-designed training programmes to address skills mismatches,” she said.

Meanwhile, World Bank Group in its latest report noted that Malaysia emerged as a country with strong resilience and plenty of potential for recovery from the pandemic.

The six other countries surveyed for this report included Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Mongolia, Cambodia and the Philippines.

Notably, Malaysia’s diversified exports and strong trade sector contributed to its economic resilience during the pandemic-induced recession.

“Malaysia’s favourable business environment, ranked highest among the six countries studied according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index, enabled Malaysian firms to effectively navigate disruptions caused by the pandemic and capitalise on opportunities during the recovery,” the report said.

Among the key takeaways from the report was that the younger, less-educated and informal workers were more negatively affected than the white-collared professionals.

“Self-employed workers or those working for family businesses were more likely than wage workers to experience work stoppages and income loss.

“However, the survey showed businesses that were shedding workers became less productive,” the report said.

Women were also reportedly more susceptible to losing their jobs than men, especially those with a lower income, lower education and who were younger.

The report also showed that digitilisation became the go-to once the pandemic hit and movements were heavily restricted.

“The acceleration of technology adoption created an opportunity for firms and workers to be more productive.

“However, the digital divide was apparent in poorer regions with a lower share of workers working from home,” it said.

Lastly, the report said Malaysia had relied heavily on support to businesses in the form of liquidity, credit and lending below-the-line measures as opposed to providing direct support to households.

While countries like Cambodia, Mongolia and Indonesia recorded higher support for households, Malaysia saw a more thorough level of support for businesses.

“The support to businesses appeared to be more biased towards more productive and larger firms. While the support to households was pro-poor, it was not as responsive to shocks,” it said.

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  • Lee said interest rates may stay elevated for some time and expects Bank Negara to hold the OPR at the current level in 2023 and into 2024. ...

New Straits Times
https://www.nst.com.my › news › nation › 2022/01

Thursday, August 3, 2023

Higher growth projected for 2023

Lee said interest rates may stay elevated for some time and expects Bank Negara to hold the OPR at the current level in 2023 and into 2024.

The commendable first-quarter showing augurs well, says the Socio-economic Research Centre

'STRUCTURAL REFORMS ARE KEY TO SUPPORTING THE ECONOMY AND RINGGIT' - Lee Heng Lee 

KUALA LUMPUR: The combination of declining exports, persistently high core inflation and cautious consumer spending will likely see the economy experiencing a moderation in growth in the second half of the year (2H23).

Despite anticipating a deceleration in economic growth in the upcoming quarters, Socio-economic Research Centre (SERC) has raised its 2023 gross domestic product (GDP) growth projection to 4.5% year-on-year (y-o-y) from 4.1% previously, to reflect the strength in the first-quarter (1Q23) economic growth.

The GDP expanded by 5.6% in 1Q23, exceeding the 4.8% growth achieved in 1Q22, thanks to sustained domestic demand underpinned by strong private expenditure and improvement in labour market conditions.

SERC executive director Lee Heng Guie said the robust consumer spending witnessed last year may not be replicated this year due to the high interest rate environment and more cautious consumer spending.

“The cash stimulus has already been spent and the spending boom, such as the ‘revenge spending’ that we saw post-pandemic, has already faded,” he said during SERC’S media briefing on the quarterly economic tracker for 2Q23.

Lee pointed out that the country’s exports had also started to ease as global demand weakens under the strain of high inflation and interest rates.

For 1H23, exports contracted by 4.5% y-o-y and Lee projects exports to decline by between 5% and 7% for the full year on the back of lower demand.

With these factors at play, SERC expects GDP to grow in a range of between 4% and 5% in 2H23, with consumer demand continuing to be the key growth driver in the remaining months of the year.

He added the elevated base effect in 2H22 will present another challenge to the 2H23 GDP performance.

On the overnight policy rate (OPR), Lee believes the current rate of 3% is at an “accommodative and supportive” level for sustainable economic activity.

He said interest rates may stay elevated for some time and expects Bank Negara to hold the OPR at the current level in 2023 and into 2024.

“Any change to the OPR is dependent on how resilient the economy is and how consumer inflation behaves.

“I think the current level is just right, (as) it will not significantly hurt the people.

“Structural reforms are key to supporting the economy and the ringgit.” Lee Heng Guie

“It is still supporting the economy, but does not overburden businesses and the people. Even though central banks are likely to end their rate hike cycles, it does not necessarily imply that they will reduce rates either,” he explained.

Lee expects most central banks to likely keep interest rates at current levels till inflation, both headline and core, subsides to a “comfortable range”.

In the majority of advanced economies, a comfortable range of inflation is around 2%, Lee observed. Although headline inflation has eased in Malaysia, Lee stressed the battle against inflation has not been won.

“This is because subsidy rationalisation is still on the table of the government. The government needs to address that following the state elections to control the budget deficit,” Lee noted.

Given the volatility in crude oil prices, Lee said the current oil subsidy scheme was fiscally unsustainable and would further contribute to deficits.

He added the ringgit had strengthened against the currencies of Japan, China, Australia, Taiwan and India since the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) first federal fund rate hike in March last year.

However, against the greenback, the local unit is among a basket of currencies that have experienced a significant weakening after having declined by about 7.4% since the start of the rate hike cycle.

“Structural reforms are key to supporting the economy and the ringgit,” Lee stressed.

He said the proposed progressive wage model (PWM) plan, which is currently under consideration by the government, is a right step towards a productivity-linked wage system which will foster competitiveness by forging a stronger correlation between wages and productivity.

Lee, however, contends that a more comprehensive and practical analysis should be undertaken on the plan by a tripartite body, which includes representatives from the government, employers and employees.

This is due to the presence of valid concerns and areas of uncertainty within the proposal, such as whether the PWM would be extended to foreign workers and specific sectors.

In keeping the economy resilient, Lee emphasised on the importance of private investment.

He reiterated that private investment not only helped stimulate economic growth, but also generated jobs and thus benefiting both the community and the nation as a whole.

Speaking on the US economy, Lee believes that it is still resilient, citing the strength of its labour market and wage growth as indications. However, he said consumer spending remained robust and asserts inflationary pressure.

“In the United States, headline inflation has not reached the targeted 2% level, while core inflation remains sticky.

“This is something the Fed would be observing. If there is risk of inflation resurgence, it may still continue to increase rates,” Lee said.

Globally, Lee pointed out that the purchasing managers’ index for the manufacturing sector has continued its downtrend, sustaining below the 50-point threshold. The services sector, meanwhile, recorded a slight slowdown in its latest figures.

“We are worried the slowdown in the manufacturing sector has broadened and impacted the services sector,” Lee added.

On world trade volume and industrial production, Lee pointed out that both have been moderating, owing to slower demand. “This is why we saw a decline in exports for regional countries, including Malaysia, recently.”

The Star - StarBiz By KIRENNESH NAIR kirennesh@thestar.com.my 3 Aug 2023

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Malaysia emerged resilient amid Covid-19 challenges, says World Bank
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Malaysia emerged resilient amid Covid-19 challenges, says World Bank



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Wednesday, August 2, 2023

IGP: Don’t touch on Race, Religion and Royalty (3R) issue

 

 IGP: Issues surrounding '3R' can disrupt harmony if not dealt with properly

 

He states clearly that all of us are pendatangs, except for our Orang Asli/Asal & natives of Sabah/Sarawak.
This guy is more qualified than almost all our Ministers & Ulama.





Strong presence: Police keeping the situation under control outside the nomination centre in Ampang, Selangor. — SHAARI CHEMAT/The Star
 

KUALA LUMPUR: All parties involved in the state elections and Kuala Terengganu by-election must avoid touching on sensitive issues, especially those relating to race, religion and royalty (3R), says Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain.

“We will monitor the situation and action will be taken against those who touch on such issues,” he said.

Razarudin said a 3R task force will complete investigations on 3R offences within seven days after an investigation paper (IP) is opened.

“It is an ideal duration as we don’t want such matters to drag on.

“Once completed, we will refer the IP to the Attorney General’s Chambers,” he told a press conference at Bukit Aman here yesterday.

He reminded all to not cause any provocation or trouble during the elections.

“Sufficient police personnel and officers will be deployed during the campaign period and during the post-election period.

“We will take necessary action to ensure the safety of all involved in the elections,” he said.

The IGP said the nomination process for the six state elections and the by-election had proceeded smoothly.

A total of 17,176 police officers and personnel were deployed on nomination day yesterday and there was no unwanted incident by press time.

“We salute the political maturity of the candidates and their supporters in ensuring a smooth process.

“We hope such behaviour will continue during the campaign period as well,” he said.

He said the police had also deployed 82 Ops Cantas teams comprising 1,459 officers and personnel to take action against any criminal act.

For Kelantan, he said the Ops Cantas teams were deployed in mid-May while the others were sent out on June 29 for the remaining five states.

“So far, more than 400 individuals have been detained.

“The Ops Cantas teams will also monitor activities during the campaign period, such as ceramah,” he said.

He advised candidates to apply for police permits early for campaign activities such as ceramah and walkabouts.

“Applying for the permits is important to avoid any clash or overlapping between rival parties and candidates.

“I told the respective state police chiefs to entertain these applications up to 24 hours before any event but it is better to apply early.

“If there is any application overlap between rival candidates, the applications from those who submitted late will be rejected,” he said. 

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