IPOH, Feb 22 — Malaysia needs to do away with the agent-based foreign workers recruitment system, which contributes to the problem of illegal workers and immigrants, Minister of International Trade and Industry (II) Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan said yesterday.  

Instead of allowing agents to bring in foreigners, employers should be allowed to directly recruit workers, he said. 

“The current problem exists because many third parties brought foreigners into Malaysia with the promise of employment and left them to fend for themselves,” he said.

“The recruitment agents brought in workers without understanding the needs of the local industries such as services, manufacturing and commodities. This caused not only problems to foreigners but also the industries.  

“Agents are not industry players. Foreigners are placed in sectors where there are no immediate shortages. The agents would stop looking after or supervising the workers they had brought in and problems like documentation would occur."

Citing the furniture industry as an example, Ong said manufacturers were facing a shortage of about 30,000 workers.

“If furniture makers are allowed to bring in workers there would be better control of the number taken in,” he said.

“We will have an accurate and transparent system when it comes to hiring foreign workers using the direct communication system between the government and the industry players.

“More importantly we probably may not really need a big number of them ... not in the millions.” 

On the issue of resolving the demand for workers using the rehiring scheme, Ong said it was important to determine the number of legal and illegal workers in the country first.

This should be followed by identifying the industries or sectors in need of foreign workers and the number required.

“Miti encourages industries to go for automation so their reliance on foreign workers can be reduced," he said. 

“We have become service- and manufacturing-led. Both sectors contribute more than 80 per cent to our gross domestic product.

"As for exports, the manufacturing sector’s contribution is about 80 per cent. In the long run, reliance on foreign workers is not good for them."

Ong said employers needed to restructure their employment strategies and policies so they could provide higher salaries and employ Malaysians instead of foreigners in areas which required human skills. 

He said employing foreign workers should only be a short-term measure and not a permanent solution. 

 “My hope is that the rehiring exercise will be conducted with the involvement of fewer parties. It is enough for the Home Ministry and Human Resource Ministry to be involved in this exercise," he said.