KUALA LUMPUR: The Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Huazong) has welcomed the government’s move of instructing the Home Ministry to stop using agents to recruit foreign workers, as it involved higher costs.
Its President Tan Sri T.C Goh believed such a move would help to bring down the costs of doing business, hence boosting Malaysia’s competitive edge and speeding up recovery of the domestic economy.
He too recognized that the high fees imposed by recruitment agents have long been blamed for increased costs for foreign workers looking to work in Malaysia. They are often forced to take high-interest loans or mortgage their land to pay the recruitment fees, putting them into “bondage”.
In a statement issued today, Goh who is also President of The Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS) thus expressed full support for the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim recent move of instructing the Home Ministry to stop using agents to recruit foreign workers.
He also hoped the government could step up its supervision on this aspect, after this, to ensure that it is being fully and strictly adhered to.
He noted that the Prime Minister has cited for example, due to the involvement of recruitment agents, the cost for hiring workers from Nepal is only RM3,700 but for hiring of workers from Bangladesh and Indonesia, they each involve a cost of between RM20,000 and RM25,000..
Goh thus opined that if the government does not act fast to properly and effectively address this issue, it may further increase the cost of doing business in the country, and make the existing issue of illegal foreign workers worse.
He pointed out that amidst the ongoing economic recovery, post pandemic, various economic sectors in the country, especially sectors like plantations, agriculture, food and beverages, and manufacturing which have been heavily dependent on foreign labour, are currently facing acute shortage of workers.
He said, for foreign workers to come to work in Malaysia, they would naturally take into consideration various factors, especially to ensure that they won’t end up in debt, due to the high recruitment fees involved.
He said, high fees charged by profiteering agents were tantamount to “modern slavery”.
He believed the latest move by the government could better protect the rights and welfare of both local and foreign workers, and is a ‘win-win’ situation for both the employers and the workers. Besides this, it would also better improve Malaysia’s image in the international arena, especially in regards to treatment of foreign workers.
Goh also proposed that under the same premise, the government should seriously look into the existing recruitment systems adopted by those countries which supply foreign workers to Malaysia, to ensure that they do not cause any unnecessary financial burden to both local employers and foreign workers.
Besides this, he also welcomed the government’s ongoing Labour Recalibration Programme 2.0 (RTK 2.0) which allows employers to register illegal foreign workers.
He thus hoped employers in the country could give their full support and cooperation to the said programme, which will last till end of this year.
