TAIPING, March 22 ― The government must be more selective and impose tighter conditions when issuing permits to new investments in the manufacturing sector and work passes for the service sector to reduce the influx of foreign workers.

The Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Shah said permits for foreign investments here should depend on the country's priorities and employment opportunities given to locals.

“It is meaningless to the country when the government has to issue permits for more foreign workers to be brought in for jobs which are offered,” he said when launching the Advanced Technology Training Centre (ADTEC) here today.

ADTEC Taiping is one of 32 institutes managed by the Human Resource Department and offers seven full-time diploma courses, including Mechatronic Engineering Technology and Quality Assurance Engineering Technology.

The Sultan said according to statistics from the Home Ministry, the number of social work visit passes issued to foreign workers increased from 2.073 million in 2014 to 2.135 million last year.

“The number of illegal foreign workers is said to be at least twice the number of those with work passes. If this is true, it means that there are more than four million foreign workers currently working in Malaysia,” he said.

Sultan Nazrin said last year, foreign workers sent RM34.7 billion back to their countries, which is equal to 2.37 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product.

“It is estimated that the actual number is much higher as some of the money sent back to their countries is through unofficial channels,” he said.

 Sultan Nazrin also urged for tighter conditions be imposed on employers so that they did not use shortcuts to get foreign labour which may result in greater costs to the people and nation, later.

He also praised the decision by the Federal Government to stop bringing-in more new foreign workers as announced by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on March 12.

The Sultan also said employers should not be hasty in saying that local workers do not want to do 3D jobs which are “Dirty, Dangerous and Demeaning”. ― Bernama