KUALA LUMPUR: The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) says as far as it is concerned, there is no physical oversupply of foreign workers in the manufacturing sector.
“We believe that the oversupply of foreign workers refers to the existing quota approval versus the actual current need of workers,” FMM president Tan Sri Soh Thian Lai said when contacted yesterday.
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He said manufacturers were believed to have put their recruitment plans on hold, and those with foreign worker quota approvals in hand have opted to delay the process of bringing in the workers to deal with the downturn in demand and orders due to the economic slowdown.
Soh said foreign workers could not be easily distributed to other sectors without following procedures.
“They cannot just be switched to other companies or sectors as the work permit is tied to a particular employer and sector which they were brought in to work at.
“The existing employer would have to legally let go of their workers who can then be offered to any other employer in need of workers. The new employer will have to go through the official process of employing the foreigners,” he added.
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Soh said workers should also be informed of the change to a different employer or sector and given the option to accept or reject it.
He said this was because the workers might have their own preferences which must be considered under ethical recruitment and employment practices.
He said the government could also facilitate the process of change of employer or sector such as in cases of oversupply in one sector and undersupply in another.
Soh said some sectors could experience a shortfall in workers as they were now experiencing an increase in demand due to new projects, peak seasons or harvest periods.
He said with the freeze in new applications since March 18, 2023, these sectors had not been able to bring in the additional workers required.
In February, Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar announced that all applications and processing for foreign workers have been put on hold until further notice, in order to allow employers to sort out the arrival of the 995,396 approved workers first.
Soh said the government should resume the foreign worker application and approval, accept applications and evaluate them based on merit and if the companies had no outstanding quotas and could justify their request.
Meanwhile, a human rights group said the quotas for foreign workers accorded to companies in amounts far exceeding their actual requirements indicated that human traffickers were at work.
North-South Initiative (NSI) executive director Adrian Pereira said people were being trafficked into the country “in very official ways”.
“For me, it looks like there has been a breach of national security and traffickers have found intelligent ways to bring in workers beyond the quotas.
“And of course, some are profiteering from this. For every plane of migrants brought in, a few millionaires are being created,” he said when contacted.
He said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) must investigate company directors and their associates who are involved while government department heads responsible for oversight must be made to answer, and called for the bank accounts of those involved to be frozen.
“It is very important for the accounts of these company directors to be frozen and for the government to ensure that all illegal gains from these activities are recovered,” he said, adding that all recruitment fees and government taxes collected from the processes must be returned to the exploited workers.
He also cautioned that foreign investors would be concerned about allegations of forced labour.
“This problem shows that labour migration must be parked under the Prime Minister’s Office. It is also very sad that the Council for Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants (Mapo) has not been able to respond to this,” he added.
