KUALA LUMPUR, April 30 — My EG Services Bhd (MyEG) must refund employers who were subjected to the additional RM35 fees for the renewal of foreign workers permit under their online system now that it has been cancelled, DAP’s Teresa Kok said today.

In a statement, the Seputeh MP said the government’s decision to absorb the service charge due to “massive criticisms” showed their mistake in not discussing the matter with stakeholders before implementing the charge.

“The decision by the government to finally absorb the service charge due to massive criticisms shows that the employers’ objections were justified.

“It also shows the mistake of the government of not having prior dialogues with the stakeholders before outsourcing the service,” Kok said.

“MyEG must refund such fess that it has collected from employers since January 5, 2015,” she added, saying that having employers paid an additional RM35 on top of the RM125 processing fee was “unreasonable, exorbitant and unacceptable”.

It was reported that the abolishment of the requirement for employers to pay the RM35 service fee takes effect from May 2 onwards.

On January 5, the Immigration Department introduced the mandatory renewal of foreign workers electronically through the MyEG platform with a RM38 service charge, discontinuing free counter services at the Home Ministry’s offices nationwide.

But public outcry later prompted the Immigration Department to reopen the counters to allow for manual renewal of foreign workers’ permits, while the RM38 service fee was later cut to RM35 for each foreign worker.