Malaysia
Minister: Independent committee on foreign workers to start work in second week of October
Sunday, 30 Sep 2018 1:50 PM MYT
Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran speaks to reporters in Ipoh September 30, 2018. ― Picture by Farhan Najib
IPOH, Sept 30 -- The independent committee to coordinate the overall policies and management of foreign workers will begin their duties in two weeks.
Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran said the committee, chaired by retired Court of Appeal judge Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Yunus, would have townhall sessions in all states to engage the stakeholders.
"There are 13 members in the committee that include representatives from my ministry and the Home Ministry. The committee will come up with suggestions to the government on holistic intake of foreign workers."
"What is happening now is there are ad hoc policies. Today one ministry will come up with one policy and tomorrow another policy," he said.
Speaking to reporters after opening Sekolah Semangat Maju food fair at Kampung Tawas here, the Ipoh Barat MP said the committee members had obtained their appointment letters signed by the Prime Minister.
"What we want to do is application of foreign workers to be faceless. Application can be done online without seeing any officers. If the applicant fulfills all requirement, they will be allowed to take in foreign workers," he added.
In a related matter, Kulasegaran said Malaysia was in the midst of finalising agreement with countries supplying foreign workers to the country.
"Currently, only the agreement with Sri Lanka is still enforce," he said, adding that countries that Malaysia has agreement with to supply foreign workers are Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal and India.
Kulasegaran said negotiations with Nepal has been completed last Friday and Malaysia was currently in talks with Indonesia.
"I have met with Indonesia's Labour Minister more than a week ago and the minister was agreeable to renewing the agreement but they wanted certain things to be done."
"Among them is the workers pay and protection," he added.
Kulasegaran, however, admitted one of the issues hampering the agreement with the countries were the undocumented workers in the country.
"We need to find ways to send them back," he added.
He said ultimately, the government wants to save on the outflow of Malaysian ringgit.
"We want Malaysians to be given preference during employment," he added.
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