KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 3 — Bangi DAP MP Ong Kian Ming today urged the Selangor state government to build more Centralized Labour Quarters (CLQ) that comply with national housing standards for workers on industrial land.
He said that it was an important step to ensure proper treatment of workers, especially foreigners in the manufacturing sector, as controversies involving globally-known rubber glove factories and a component producer for Dyson have recently come to light.
“The building of such CLQs in industrial land will not only be more convenient for the factory workers in terms of reducing traveling time to work but is also less intrusive for the local resident population which may object to such CLQs being built in existing residential areas,” he said.
He added that more of such CLQs should be built on existing industrial land not just in Selangor but also in other states such as Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Johor and Perak which have large industrial estates with a high number of foreign workers.
“State governments should work closely together with the federal government to identify tax and other incentives to encourage greater investment by the private sector in the building and management of such CLQs on industrial land for the manufacturing sector,” he added.
He said this in a statement after attending a ground-breaking ceremony in Kampung Baru Balakong for the first CLQ for factory workers in Selangor to be built on industrial land last Friday.
He said that these CLQs will be built and managed in compliance with the Workers’ Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act (Act 446).
“This is an important step in ensuring the proper treatment of workers in the manufacturing sector so that accusations that these workers — especially foreign workers — are being mistreated and housed in inhumane conditions can be minimised,” he said, while pointing out that action was taken by the United States government against many glove manufacturers in Malaysia because of such accusations.
More recently, a Johor Baru-based supplier of components to Dyson, a global manufacturer of high-end electrical appliances, was removed as the company’s supplier because of accusations of violation of labour laws.
Meanwhile, Ong said the current CLQ that was launched was initiated by the Factory Owner’s Association in Kampung Baru Balakong 2 and has received the necessary approval from the relevant state and federal agencies including Majlis Perbandaran Kajang (MPKj) and PLAN Selangor (formerly known as Jabatan Perancangan Bandar dan Desa / JPBD Selangor, an agency under the Ministry of Housing and Local Government).
The 15-storey CLQ consists of 598 units of accommodation over 15 stories and can house up to 3,600 workers from the surrounding factories in the eight nearby industrial estates in the Balakong / Seri Kembangan area.
While this hostel is meant to house both Malaysian and non-Malaysian workers who are working in the factories in the Balakong area, most of the workers who will be housed will be foreign workers.
