Foreign worker hiring freeze shouldn’t affect approved recruits, employers say

PETALING JAYA, Feb 23 — Malaysian employers, given prior approval to bring in foreign workers, want the government to allow them to proceed with the recruitments.

Cameron Highlands Farming Operators Association president Ng Tien Khuan said farm operators made a lot effort and paid to bring them over.

“The government has already approved their visas and we are just waiting for them to come over. What will happen to our money if they are rejected?” Ng asked.

Last Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi Zahid announced that the government suspended the intake of foreign workers, including the 1.5 million Bangladeshis offered by Dhaka.

Ng said he had tried to employ locals for his farm and most of them declined. The few who took the job eventually quit as they couldn’t take the hard labour, he added.

“About 99 per cent of all the work here is manual. Machines take up only a fraction of the work,” he said.

Malaysian Indian Restaurant Owners Association’s honorary chairman Datuk R. Ramalingam Pillai said there is an online system by the Human Resource Ministry called the Job Clearing System, which the employers use to apply for foreign workers.

“We apply for workers we need. If there are local candidates for the position, they would give us the contacts,” said Ramalingam.

“Since our locals nowadays can’t wash dishes or clean the table, who else do we have to do the work?”

He said there is a rotation system in place where the employers would book another foreign worker as a replacement if a current foreign worker goes back to his country on leave or once his permit ends.

“We have already prepared air-tickets for them and the new workers. How could we run the business with insufficient workers?

“Approval is already given based on what we employers need and the levy has been paid. The government has to reconsider its decision and allow employers to hire workers based on their needs,” he said.

Malaysian Textile Manufacturing Associations President Datuk Seri Tan Thian Poh said association is still giving feedback to the Home Ministry. He hoped there would be some changes.

“The government should not punish the employers, who have obtained prior approval as this will upset the whole recruitment process. Workers might have paid their recruitment fees and mobilisation costs. It is absurd if suddenly not allowed to come,” he said.

Tan, who is also the Asean Federation of Textile Industry chairman, said this would create havoc and damage Malaysia’s reputation as an employer of migrant workers.

“It will also create havoc for employers and investors. They will lose confidence in our government,” he said.

However, Kuala Lumpur Hawkers and Petty Traders Association chairman Datuk Ang Say Tee said the freeze would not affect hawkers they don’t depend much on foreign labour.

Ang said many hawker and petty traders have reduced their dependency on foreign workers as profit had been down by 30 to 50 per cent.

“It is expensive and troublesome to recruit a foreign employee. I would rather pay the locals more than go through the hassle of hiring a foreign worker,” he said.

Meanwhile, Human Resource Minister Datuk Richard Riot confirmed that it included those who have gotten prior approval.

In a text message to the Malay Mail, Riot said details on the freeze would be announced soon.

“The deputy prime minister said all efforts of bringing in foreign workers are temporarily frozen until a new mechanism is decided. I stand by that decision. The same applies to other memorandum of understandings with other countries,” he said.