KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 30 — The Immigration Department has suspended the online system run by Bestinet Sdn Bhd that handles foreign workers’ visa applications and medical screenings after Chinese businesses accused the private company of exploitation.
In a statement today, the department’s deputy director-general of controls Datuk Sakib Kusmi said the first two modules under the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS) and the bio-medical health checks, which the government had outsourced to Bestinet, were frozen with immediate effect so the authorities could review and fine-tune its policies.
“With the postponement of this FWCMS system, all VDR applications at the immigrations department counters have been reopened beginning today.
“The department would like to remind that all business at the counters must be done accordingly by employers themselves or a legit representative,” Sakib said.
The Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (ACCCIM) said Wednesday that Bestinet’s alleged “monopoly” over foreign workers’ visa applications and medical checkups was driving costs up and could shut businesses down, pointing out that the IT firm was charging companies RM125 and RM250 for the respective services.
ACCCIM, an umbrella body representing over 28,000 Malaysian Chinese businesses, said the cost of the visa application for one foreign worker had shot up by 150 per cent as it previously cost only RM50 over the counter.
Bestinet, however, was quoted by local daily The Star yesterday as saying that its new centralised online system has helped shorten processes significantly and that it was not responsible for the steep hike in visa processing fees for Indonesian workers.
PKR revealed Tuesday that former Labour Department director-general Datuk Tengku Omar Bot and ex-Home Minister Tan Sri Azmi Khalid were Bestinet’s directors.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong was reported by The Star today as saying that Putrajaya need not outsource the processing of foreign workers’ visas and permit renewals as there was an existing online system used by the Human Resources Ministry.
“Since we already have the system to handle these procedures, I don’t see why we have to outsource them,” Wee was quoted saying.
