M'SIA SETTING UP LAB TO STUDY RECRUITMENT OF FOREIGN WORKERS

PUTRAJAYA, Feb 22 (Bernama) -- The government will be setting up a
laboratory to study the recruitment of foreign workers including the role of
outsourcing companies in the matter.

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said it would be headed by the Home
Ministry and would include representatives from other ministries and related
agencies.

He said it would be given a timeline of two months to provide feedback on
matters like policies, recruitment procedures, role of outsourcing companies and
agents and the laws involved, besides making recommendations on the steps to be
taken to ensure hiring of foreign workers was according to needs.

"We want to ensure tighter conditions for the hiring of foreign workers.
This means if a company wants to hire foreign workers, the Home Ministry will
first ensure whether it is justified.

"The laboratory will also review the existing system to ensure foreign
workers return to their home countries on completion of their contracts," he
told reporters after chairing a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Foreign
Workers and Illegal Immigrants, here Monday.

Also present were Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and Human Resource
Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam.

Muhyiddin said according to Immigration Department records, at the end of
last year, there were some 1.59 million foreign workers with valid permits in
the country compared to 2.06 million at the end of 2008.

"The drop of 470,000 foreign workers followed the dip in the economy last
year with employers taking steps to reduce foreign worker headcount, including
expatriate workers," he said.

He said the need to study the role of outsourcing companies and agents had
to be done following there being ambiguity in terms of the status of employer.

"According to the situation now, the outsourcing company is also assumed to
be an employer. To me, it should not be the case, the end user should be
employer," he said.

Muhyiddin said the laboratory would review their role towards ensuring
that they only acted as intermediaries in the hiring of foreign workers.

"This is because so far not a single employer has been found to be flouting
rules governing employment of foreign workers or been brought to justice and it
is due to this ambiguity," he said.

He also said outsourcing companies that did not function effectively or did
not adhere to regulations risked having their licences revoked so that only the
good ones remained to cater hiring of foreign workers.

He said presently there were some 277,000 outsourcing companies in the
country with only about half of them active.

Ministries with the power to approve hiring of foreign workers, he said,
must exercise caution when giving approvals to prevent abuse by irresponsible
elements.

"Take the spa industry for instance, we have received information that some
of the foreign workers hired do not work where they should but work as masseuses
instead," he said, adding this was in contravention of the permits issued and
that stern action would be taken against the culprits if caught.

The same applied to frontline staff at hotels, which did not augur well for
the growth of the tourism industry, he said.

"Priority should be locals as they can showcase Malaysian culture,
traditions and languages. This is a selling point for us," he said.

Another aspect the laboratory had to study, Muhyiddin said, was the actual
costs involved in the hiring of foreign workers encompassing levy payments,
wages, medical costs, hospitalisation costs at government hospitals and in terms
of usage of subsidised fuel.

He said a cost benefit analysis was necessary as it could be that hiring
locals might be more cost effective for the employer even if the salaries were
higher.

He added that the laboratory was also tasked with recommending incentives to
encourage employers to hire more Malaysians taking into consideration various
aspects like the current economic situation and interests of stakeholders so
that the recruitment of foreign workers was well managed over the long term.
-- BERNAMA