KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 -- Small and Medium Enterprises Association (Samenta) Malaysia has urged the government to focus on upskilling Malaysians for higher paying jobs, instead of giving in to the frequent demands for a higher minimum wage.

Samenta national president Datuk William Ng said that the government should focus on attracting high-value industries that offer high-paying jobs and ensure that Malaysians are trained and reskilled for these jobs.

"In Penang and nearby Kulim alone, over 50,000 vacancies for engineers and technical remain unfilled, even though the industry is offering between RM3,500 and RM6,000 monthly salary for them.

"This is despite the best efforts of our public and private educational institutions to produce t...