What is the matter?

Ikea Singapore is giving its Malaysian employees an extra day of paid leave.

Why?

The one extra day would allow these employees to head home to vote in Malaysia’s 14th General Election on May 9, 2018, which is on a Wednesday.

About 80 Malaysians work at Ikea’s stores and service office in Singapore.

The announcement that Polling Day is on a weekday -- the first time in 20 years -- triggered a surge in demand for bus and plane tickets among overseas Malaysians wanting to travel home.

The journey back north is expected to take some time, with foreseeable extended periods of congestion. Thousands of Malaysians who work overseas appear to want to exercise their democratic right in one of the most hotly-contested elections in recent memory.

Malaysians living in Singapore, Brunei, Southern Thailand and Kalimantan in Indonesia have been told they are not eligible to vote by post.

Some Singaporeans unhappy

However, this news that Ikea in Singapore is generous enough to extend one extra day of paid leave to its Malaysian staff has left a bad taste in some Singaporeans' mouths -- even though those Singaporeans who feel it is unfair might not even be working in Ikea.

One local forum thread has more than a few dozen pages (51 pages and counting) dedicated to debating the merits and perceived unfairness of Ikea Singapore's decision.

One forum contributor even claimed to have written to the Singapore prime minister and Ministry of Manpower to complain about Ikea's act of positive discrimination.

Why the perception of unfairness?

By giving one extra day of paid leave to Malaysians only, Ikea Singapore has suddenly tipped the scales of the benefits balance in favour of non-locals, due to non-work-related matters.

The appreciation of Ikea's initiative is, yes, the company is being socially responsible by proactively encouraging its workers to be part of a democratic process by ensuring their right to vote is not hampered by work.

But at the same time, Ikea is possibly taking this liberty at the expense of Singaporeans, who would then have to cover for their absent Malaysian colleagues.

And the reason for the absence of Malaysians in Ikea is purely political: Ikea made this special arrangement in response to an unusual political event.

Moreover, voting in Malaysia is actually not compulsory.

And this is the tricky part: Although Ikea is a private company that can choose to dish out whatever benefits it chooses at its discretion, it is ultimately positively interfering in another country's politics.

According to mainstream news reports (Channel News Asia and Today), Ikea Singapore is in all likelihood the only company here to extend one extra day of paid leave to Malaysian employees.

Some 30 other firms contacted by the media have said Malaysians have to dip into their annual leave to take a day off, if they choose to go back home to vote.

How to understand this issue?

Ikea is a Swedish company known for its left-leaning socialist democratic philosophy.

Its entire business of pricing furniture within the reach of the masses is based on its egalitarian ideology that something as basic as furniture should be within reach of people without difficulty.

For Ikea to be at the forefront of this minor movement of encouraging its staff to be responsible citizens who vote in democratic elections that should be open to all and sundry -- to the extent of appearing to practise positive discrimination -- should be lauded.

But it leaves some questions unanswered, such as whether there is such a thing as positively dabbling in a political process since the default position by all other companies is to not give any extra day off.

And is Ikea Singapore so ahead of its time that it has acted in an unprecedented manner that it will become a standard bearer?

Or should Ikea Singapore be the rule instead of the exception, and it is, in fact, the rest of Singapore's companies that are lagging behind?

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What can Ikea do?

Ikea, after all, has proven to be very responsive to criticisms.

It had previously swapped out its poorly-reviewed chicken wings for revamped ones in response to customer feedback that panned its cafeteria food.

So, in response to this current hullabaloo, it would not be surprising at all if Ikea Singapore decided to extend the one extra day of paid leave to all staff in its employment to show that it is serious about being the most egalitarian company here and globally.

It makes for wonderful optics -- at an acceptable cost.

Because if it is willing to do this at the expense of its own bottom line, it shall be for the betterment of not only Malaysians' interests, but Singaporeans as well.

Top photo via Karl Baron Flickr & Wikipedia