I am resigning from my job this month as i get a good offer from a competitor to my current employer. I never realized that the employment contract i signed 5 years ago stated that i cannot join a competitior in south east asia for two years. so, i e-mailed Jabatan Tenaga Kerja Malaysia regarding this matter and this is what they replied:-

"syarat yang dikemukakan oleh majikan tuan adalah syarat biasa yang dikemukakan oleh kebanyakan majikan. Jika telah dinyatakan dengan jelas dalam surat perlantikan tuan dan tuan telah menandatangani surat perlantikan tersebut, maka tuan adalah tertakluk pada syarat tersebut. Majikan tuan boleh mengambil tindakan mahkamah terhadap tuan sekiranya tuan melanggar syarat tersebut. Tuan juga perlu manandatangani surat sampingan sekiranya diperlukan."

Any feedback on this. Takutlah macam ni....

itulah pasal...but the contact i signed at that time is just for management trainee..trainee ape adehal..sign jelah...now im in the managent post.....but still salary wise not so good...
The question is is this agreement applicable in malaysia. i think is not right...lets say now im an auditor..just to fulfill the agreemen i cannot work as an auditor tempat lain..kena tukar keje jadi janitor?

No. They ask me where i want to go..but i say that not to other competitor.. . But now they want me to write a letter saying that i will not join a competitor before i leave the company....

Seems that they know where im going....im in the auditing line, there are only 11 companies registered in Malaysia, so its quite hard to keep it a secret..

Dear all, whatever it is, i have already make my decision. It is just that i wanna know what are the loophole in the agreement?The agreement says that 2 years cannot work with competitor and within south and south east asia.
Based on the search on the net, in US there are some states that these rules are apllicable and in some states it is void.
I have already work with my company for 5 years. I have achieved so many things here and i dont think i can improve further plus the salary is considered one of the lowest in Msia compared to other competitor. Even when compare to other auditors also my salary is much lower that them.
So is it my fault that i manage to find a better offer and also benefits even though it is from a competitor?
Being an auditor, i dont think that there is any secret trade is so special to the company, as we auditor do our job according to the international standard. the only secret maybe the clients that we have.

i know that i cannot compare us and m'sia.anyone have any expereince on this in malaysia?

hi guys, tx for your feedback. i've checked the contract yesterday and briefly this is waht is written there:-something like this, cannot remember the actual wording.

"In the event of the termination of your service (either by the management or you) - without the official approval of the management to involved in any competiting activities in South and South East Asia for the period of 24 moths after the termination of service"

What is competiting activities really mean? I do not dare ask the management bout this, they will surely suspect sumthing.

I agree with seantang that i can do other things besides being an auditor, but to maintain the auditor status, i still need to be an auditor.if after two years i dont practice it, i have to be requalify.

yup..im a registered ISO 9001 auditor with IRCA. to maintain it i have to do a number of audits in a year.

So, im supposed that im stuck here forever? the competitor im joining put 6 months period of restrain of trade which to me is quite accepteble.

However, i have a discussion with the GM from another department yesterday. He said, where im going is not a problem be it a competitor or not. As long i remain professional and did not disclose any confidential information bout the company. Does not mean that after two years can talk bad bout your past employer, revaeal all the secrets, approach the clients and all that. Im too nice to do all that .

No. the contract stated that you are not allowed to join the competitor in the period of 24 months after termination.

Ur opinion is alomst the same as mine...what i've been here for 5 years not sumwhat quite attached to them and i want to leave in good terms.

As for asking the other HR to help, maybe i will talk to them once i join them.