Tuesday, August 25, 2015

M'sia Migrant Worker Online Management - from ex-Home Minister's company to new Home Minister's ...?


It is so wrong, in my opinion, when the Minister's brother/family gets access to large contracts. Government decision and approval is needed, and in this case the decision will be that of the Home Minister...

Real Time Networking Sdn Bhd, in which Zahid’s brother Abdul Hakim Hamidi is executive chairperson, aims to provide an online system where, for a fee, workers can be registered and monitored from Bangladesh and Malaysia. 

Zahid is also home minister, and the approval of foreign workers into Malaysia comes under his ministry’s purview.
Baira official said one shareholder of Real Time was a close relative of a powerful Malaysian minister and others were connected to the ruling party one way or the other - (Daily Star, 10/8/2015)
It is also very wrong for senior public servants to also be getting contracts from Ministries under which they served before. They are privy to a lot of 'confidential information' when in service, and it is wrong to use this to secure contracts. Further, being senior - they may likely have an influence on their 'juniors' or fellow seniors still in service. 

Hakim is listed as executive chairperson in the Real Time proposal and other correspondence, but he is not registered as an office-bearer with the Companies Commission of Malaysia....Instead, his son Mohd Akmal, 25, is a director, along with former Home Ministry deputy secretary-general Raja Azahar Raja Abdul Manap, and one Salihah Kasim, 25.

Now, it is interesting how many relatives of BN leaders have become rich....and, I believe that something is amiss..

Leaders of the nation is supposed to be working for the people of Malaysia - and certainly must take extra effort in not being working for the enrichment of themselves or family members...

"Zahid Hamidi and the rest of the federal government would also do well to learn from the Penang state government, which has since 2008 explicitly forbidden any family member of an elected representative from conducting any business dealings with the state."

Now, we have Zahid Hamidi, the Home Minister; and it is disturbing that the company that has both his brother, and his brother's son eyeing a contract that obviously the Home Minister has a lot of say... Even if Zahid Hamidi, is not involved in the finally decision, could his ministry officials act independently without bias? 


"All proposals from these companies pertaining to the system will first be studied and considered by a committee in the ministry, in accordance with the existing procedure," it said.... "All proposals from these companies pertaining to the system will first be studied and considered by a committee in the ministry, in accordance with the existing procedure," it said.(Bernama Report - 11/8/2015)

Was there even an open tender...?

Now, following the recent news report on 18/8/2015, it looks like the Home Minister has already considered and decided on the successful proposal ....they have been carrying out trials > that indicates more likely than not the choice of which proposal and which company may have already been made... Let us hope that it is not some long time contract ... which makes it difficult to break by this government...and subsequent governments...
"However, the online applications will be approved within 48 hours after the application meets the conditions set by the ministry. We have carried out trials and found the system to be more effective. "The single-window synchronisation system was created so that there is no overlapping and cross-communication between the ministries.”
Before making changes, really there should be consultations...with the public > not the kind where a few selected reps are called for a meeting or two. Public and open consultations is the only way to do it.

NOT A NEW IDEA? - Before company of former Home Minister ... 


However, Malaysia suspended a similar online system on January 26 two weeks after its introduction following allegations from Indonesia and Nepal that their workers were being charged higher fees.

These countries had also threatened to stop sending workers to Malaysia if Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS) was used and biometric health checks were done.

Malaysia had outsourced the services to Bestinet, which is owned, among others, by Tan Sri Azmi Khalid, a leader of the Malaysian ruling party, and Bangladeshi Aminul Islam, who has permanent resident status in Malaysia.
So, what really has changed....it did not work earlier....what are the differences? Just ownership of the company that gets the contract... ?

The Penang government's position is a good one - explicitly forbidding any family member of an elected representative or companies they are involved in from conducting any business dealings with the state - more so with the Ministry where the relative is the Home Minister.[Maybe, decision making should maybe be shifted to Parliament...or some Independent body]. 

In this case, if it did not come out in the media, I have my doubts whether the Minister would have publicly disclosed this...

We really do not need any more 'issues' involving our Cabinet Members. 

I propose that the Home Ministry and the Government just do not consider Minister's brother's company's proposal... and will call for an 'Open Tender'...and do it right. [We need a Malaysian Principles of Good Governance??]

I also think that it should this online management should really be handled directly by the government - and not outsourced to some private company...

After, the 'Open Tender' process, which really be for the 'system' which then the government will buy and use. The developer of the system may be required to be available for maintenance, etc..


Zahid's kin eyes system for 1.5m Bangladeshis


11.6K1
Aidila Razak             177






A firm owned by Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s brother is in talks with Dhaka and Putrajaya to provide a management system for the 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers Malaysia intends to allow in through a new business-to-business system.

Real Time Networking Sdn Bhd, in which Zahid’s brother Abdul Hakim Hamidi is executive chairperson, aims to provide an online system where, for a fee, workers can be registered and monitored from Bangladesh and Malaysia. 

Zahid is also home minister, and the approval of foreign workers into Malaysia comes under his ministry’s purview.

Real Time’s online system - dubbed Workforce Management & Networking System (Workman) - is similar to that provided by Bestinet, a firm owned by former home minister Azmi Khalid.

Bestinet’s agreement with the government was suspended earlier this year after outcry by recruitment agents in sending countries over its high service fees.

When contacted, Hakim confirmed that Real Time is eyeing the deal but stresses that it is not a government contract.

Rather, it is in collaboration with the Bangladesh Association of International Recruitment Agencies (Baira), he said.

“We have the model of a system where we get a payment for a package (service) and we can send people (from Bangladesh) for 60,000 Bangladeshi taka (RM3,000), including the air ticket.

“This is not a government contract. Yes, their government need to approve because it involves citizens but they are only monitoring,” Hakim said.

If approved, agencies such as the Immigration Department and Manpower Department will be linked to Real Time's system and all recruitment agents must go through Real Time to send workers to Malaysia.

'No issue if brother's minister'

He also refuted any claim of nepotism, arguing that he is experienced in the field.

“My brother is the minister but I am a businessman. It is a democratic country and I can do anything, other than be a drug pusher.
“Malaysians are very difficult. They say if my brother is a minister, I cannot do anything. They want us all to be jobless.

“I have experience in the field and I am an IT man. All these designs are from my brain,” Hakim, who is now in Dhaka, told Malaysiakini.

Hakim has experience in IT operations at Motorola Semiconductors and Tenaga Nasional Bhd and is an executive director of labour supply firm Warisan Juara Padu Sdn Bhd.

Documents show that Real Time was incorporated in March this year.

Hakim is listed as executive chairperson in the Real Time proposal and other correspondence, but he is not registered as an office-bearer with the Companies Commission of Malaysia.

Instead, his son Mohd Akmal, 25, is a director, along with former Home Ministry deputy secretary-general Raja Azahar Raja Abdul Manap, and one Salihah Kasim, 25.

Salihah shares the same address as one Md Abu Hanif Abul Kashem, another director of both Real Time and Warisan Juara Padu.

Md Abu Hanif is a Bangladeshi national and Malaysian permanent resident, according to Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star.

Md Abu Hanif is also listed by Baira as an “overseas representative of Baira”, in a letter to Zahid dated June 24, sighted by Malaysiakini.

‘Dhaka very happy’

Hakim is currently in Dhaka to present the new business-to-business system to government officials and Baira.

His visit coincides with official visit by a four-member Malaysian delegation, led by Immigration Department secretary-general Mustafa Ibrahim, which arrived Aug 9 to discuss the recruitment of 1.5 million workers for Malaysia.

According to Hakim, there are at least two other firms vying for the deal, but the Bangladeshi government is keen on the Real Time system.

“I met with Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Nurul Islam on Sunday and he is very happy with our system,” he said.

Baira has also endorsed the system in the June 24 letter.

“We really appreciate Real Time Networking Sdn Bhd to provide a great and wonderful system called WM25 (Workforce Management & Monitoring System), which we found can sustain smooth operations that will benefit both countries,” Baira president Md Abul Bashar states in the letter.

However, when met last week, Baira vice-president Ali Haider Chowdury said Real Time’s system, although favourable, is one of a few systems offered by private parties for the same purpose.

Chowdury said it would depend on the two governments to decide, and denied that Baira has any stake in Real Time.

“It is totally private,” he told Malaysiakini.

Malaysiakini understands that Bangladesh’s Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry has also received various proposals and it is weighing up options with the aim of keeping the migration costs of the workers low.

Indonesia, Nepal and The Philippines, too

Real Time presented its proposal to the Malaysian government through a letter to Zahid on June 17, a copy of which was sighted by Malaysiakini.

Zahid’s private secretary Nur Azman Mohd Aminuddin forwarded both Real Time’s June 17 proposal and Baira’s June 25 endorsement to Home Ministry secretary-general Alwi Ibrahim on July 8.

Zahid had, in a handwritten note, instructed Alwi to review the proposal “for comparison”.

Hakim believes his system will “most probably” receive the green light.

“There is no issue with the business-to-business relations, just some modules (in the system) that need some technical tuning.

“If the Bangladesh government accepts it, the Malaysian government will accept it. The receiving country must follow the supplier,” he said.

While the 1.5 million workers is the focus for now, Hakim added, Real Time is also heading to Indonesia, Nepal and The Philippines to propose the same system for the recruitment of workers into Malaysia. - Malaysiakini, 11/8/2015








 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zahid’s note on entry of Bangladeshi workers not an approval, says Home Ministry






Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s note to a company’s request for the provision of an online system for the entry of Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia is not an approval or directive, says the Home Ministry. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, August 11, 2015.  





Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s note to a company’s request for the provision of an online system for the entry of Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia is not an approval or directive, says the Home Ministry. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, August 11, 2015.  
 




Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's note relating to a company's request for the provision of an online system for the entry of Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia is neither a directive nor an approval, according to the Home Ministry.

Referring to a news portal's article on the note from Zahid, who is also Home Minister, to the ministry's secretary-general on the application from Realtime Networking Sdn Bhd, the ministry in a statement today clarified that the note was general in nature.

The ministry also stated that it had not appointed or given approval for any company to provide an online system to manage the entry of Bangladeshi workers into Malaysia, as reported.

The ministry said several companies including Realtime Networking had forwarded proposals to the ministry to provide an online system for managing foreign workers, but the ministry had not made any decision on this. "All proposals from these companies pertaining to the system will first be studied and considered by a committee in the ministry, in accordance with the existing procedure," it said.

A news portal reported that Realtime Networking, of which Zahid's younger brother is its executive chairman, had proposed the provision of an online system, whereby by making payments, the workers could be registered and monitored from Bangladesh and Malaysia.

In the statement, the Home Ministry also said that the Malaysian and Bangladesh governments would continue to discuss on solving the problem of illegal repatriation of workers.

It said both governments would cooperate in drawing up a new process for the hiring of new workers in stages and to be carried out transparently and systematically, including using the online system in managing foreign workers.

"In this matter, the government is considering involving several parties with the relevant expertise to help smoothen the operations of government agencies," it said. – Bernama, August 11, 2015.
 
- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/zahids-note-on-entry-of-bangladeshi-workers-not-an-approval-says-home-minis#sthash.zmUojPVf.dpuf

Disqualify application by Zahid’s brother to recruit foreign workers, says DAP







DAP's Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari says Datuk Abdul Hakim Hamidi’s proposal for an online system to register and monitor 1.5 billion Bangladeshi workers creates a conflict of interest for Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, August 12, 2015.DAP's Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari says Datuk Abdul Hakim Hamidi’s proposal for an online system to register and monitor 1.5 billion Bangladeshi workers creates a conflict of interest for Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, August 12, 2015. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



Putrajaya should immediately disqualify the application by the brother of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to register and recruit Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia, said an opposition federal lawmaker, citing public accountability.

DAP's Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari (pic, right) said Zahid, who is also the home minister, must come clean and clarify his role in the introduction of his brother's company, Real Time Networking Sdn Bhd, to the ministry as well as to the Bangladeshi authorities.

"If he has been found to violate ethical boundaries, then he should resign as home minister and deputy prime minister," Zairil said in a statement today.

Malaysiakini reported yesterday that Real Time Networking, owned by Datuk Abdul Hakim Hamidi, is currently negotiating with the governments of Malaysia and Bangladesh to provide an online system. The system would register and monitor 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers whom Putrajaya recently announced would be brought in over the next three years.

The news portal said the company was offering a package whereby they would collect 60,000 takas (RM3,000) for each prospective worker who wished to work in Malaysia.

The proposed system would then act as an intermediary to link the databases of the various agencies, including the Immigration Department and the Manpower Department in Malaysia.

According to documents sighted by Malaysiakini, Real Time Networking had presented its proposal to the Malaysian government through a letter dated June 17 this year to Zahid, which was then forwarded to the ministry's secretary-general, along with a handwritten note by Zahid.

When questioned about claims of nepotism, Hakim replied: "My brother is the minister but I am a businessman. It is a democratic country and I can do anything, other than be a drug pusher."

He added that "Malaysians are very difficult. They say if my brother is a minister, I cannot do anything."

Zairil said today that such a statement not only smacked of ignorance, but made a mockery of public accountability.

"The fact is Hakim can do as much business as he wants to, so long as it does not involve any government agency or department that any of his direct family members have an interest in.

"As his brother is the home minister and the ultimate approving authority for all foreign workers in our country, there is no denying the glaring element of conflict of interest involved."

Zairil said the nonchalant admission from the ministry on the matter yesterday confirming that Real Time Networking was among several local companies bidding for the project and that Zahid's written note did not constitute an instruction or approval was shocking.

"They must take Malaysians for fools if they think that the obvious conflict of interest in this case can be simply glossed over by an assurance that they will evaluate the proposal by the home minister’s brother in a fair and objective manner.

"Zahid Hamidi and the rest of the federal government would also do well to learn from the Penang state government, which has since 2008 explicitly forbidden any family member of an elected representative from conducting any business dealings with the state." – August 12, 2015, Malaysian Insider.
 
- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/disqualify-application-by-zahids-brother-to-recruit-foreign-workers-says-da#sthash.vGdeOqum.dpuf


Employers must submit online applications for foreign workers, says Zahid

Published: 18 August 2015 10:12 PM



Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi says employers must fill up online applications for foreign workers. – The Malaysian Insider filepic, August 18, 2015.Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi says employers must fill up online applications for foreign workers. – The Malaysian Insider filepic, August 18, 2015.
 
Soon, applications for foreign workers will not involve agents, but the employers must submit their applications online, says Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. He said the online management system of foreign workers would be introduced soon to reduce the time needed to bring them into the country.




Zahid, who is also home minister, said the conventional application where the employers were required to go to the ministry's One-Stop Approval Centre took between three and six months.

"However, the online applications will be approved within 48 hours after the application meets the conditions set by the ministry. We have carried out trials and found the system to be more effective. "The single-window synchronisation system was created so that there is no overlapping and cross-communication between the ministries.”

Zahid said this after chairing the first Cabinet committee meeting on foreign workers and illegal immigrants, following his appointment as deputy prime minister in the Cabinet reshuffle on July 28.

Asked if the process would be monitored by the Home Ministry, he said: "Employers will fill up the online forms and the government will look into how many foreign workers are needed.

"After that, the ministry concerned will liaise with the source country which has the list of registered workers to provide the number of workers requested, as well as several pre-conditions such as data and the foreign worker's biometrics which must be complied with, before the delivery process is undertaken."

On agents who were registered with the ministry, Zahid said once the online application system was introduced, the employers would cut their costs as the government provided this service free of charge.

Besides online applications, Zahid said the two-hour meeting also decided on two other matters relating to foreign workers – to meet the needs of the industry and boost national economic growth.

He said employers would now be required to provide the foreign workers with accommodation based on minimum standards set by the government.

He added that the provision of accommodation by the employers would be made a pre-condition for the approval of applications by employers who intended to bring in foreign workers.

"Centralised housing will be provided with basic amenities like dining area, toilets, prayer centres for different religions for humanitarian reasons, as well as to reduce the risk of social problems and crime."

The deputy prime minister said a pilot housing project had been carried out in Pengerang, Johor to accommodate 10,000 foreign workers in one housing area.

However, he stressed that priority and social safety nets would be given to local workers to be trained as professional and semi-professional employees in certain sectors.

"This is because foreign workers are only performing jobs which the locals are not interested in, as they are deemed as dirty, dangerous and difficult work."

Zahid added the meeting also decided that employers observed the principle of strict liability in their intake for foreign workers to ensure they were fully accountable for workers in their employ.

"Accountability begins at the application stage, to salaries and until the foreign worker is returned to his country of origin.

"The employer must also be accountable if the return to the country of origin exceeds the duration (of stay) and if the foreign worker moves to another employer."

He said employers who did not fulfill the conditions would face a penalty, subject to the offence committed.

Meanwhile, Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot, who also attended the meeting said the centralised housing provided for foreign workers must comply with the condition of 4.5 sq m rooms and a toilet for every five foreign workers. – Bernama, August 18, 2015.
 


'Name company for workers online contract'


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PKR wants to know the company which has been awarded the government contract for the online management system of foreign workers.

The party's demand comes after Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced that employers will soon have to submit applications for foreign workers online.

"PKR is surprised with his announcement that online applications will be approved within 48 hours (after the application meets the conditions set by the home ministry).

"But I realised that Ahmad Zahid in his announcement yesterday did not inform the public which company was 'gifted' with this government concession and that the cost that will be borne by employers who wish to make applications," said Semambu state assemblyperson Lee Chean Chung in a statement today.

"The question is, was the government concession awarded through an open tender process?"

Lee (photo) also expressed his doubts over Zahid's announcement that the applications would be approved in 48 hours.

"Approving applications in just two days makes them look like they are in a hurry and this might raise all kinds of issues related to the country's security," he said.

Zahid was yesterday quoted by Bernama as saying that an online management system of foreign workers would be introduced soon to reduce the time needed to bring them into the country.

Raise more eyebrows

The home minister pointed out the existing conventional application system where employers were required to go to the ministry's One-Stop Approval Centre took between three and six months.

Zahid's latest announcement is set to raise more eyebrows after Malaysiakini reported that a firm owned by his brother is in talks with Dhaka and Putrajaya to provide a management system for the 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers Malaysia intends to allow in through a new business-to- business system.

Real Time Networking Sdn Bhd, which Zahid’s brother Abdul Hakim Hamidi is executive chairperson, aims to provide an online system where, for a fee, workers can be registered and monitored both in Bangladesh and Malaysia.

As home minister, the approval of foreign workers into Malaysia comes under Zahid's ministry’s purview.

PART - 2


Worry hangs over hope

Malaysian delegates in city to settle new recruitment system for workers
Porimol Palma
 
It has always been mutual: Malaysia needs workers, and Bangladesh has plenty of them. That's why, Malaysia, after Saudi Arabia, has become the second most sought-after destination for Bangladeshi jobseekers. Given this, a transparent system for labour recruitment could have dismantled the human trafficking chain and also save the lives of hundreds of migrant workers. But why the two countries have so far failed to devise one such mechanism? In the second part of a three-part series, The Daily Star focuses on new recruitment system for workers.
A Malaysian delegation reached Dhaka yesterday to discuss the mode of labour recruitment through the private sector amid a number of controversies and unaddressed concerns.
The four-member delegation, led by Malaysia's immigration department's Director General Datuk Mustafa Ibrahim, would hold discussions with high officials of the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training today.
Tomorrow, they would hold a meeting with Expatriates' Welfare Minister Nurul Islam and then the ministry officials, an official of the ministry told The Daily Star.
“We will share our ideas … but the recruitment mode will be finalised later,” the official said.
A Malaysian business delegation also arrived in Dhaka on Saturday to discuss its online recruitment system with the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira), said a leader of Baira.
As the discussions are about to begin, the question is how the two countries are going to have a mechanism that would be foolproof. The private sector engagement in manpower export in 2007-08 had caused massive labour exploitations.

Additional migration cost, surplus labour recruitment due to the involvement of too many agents, and the introduction of outsourcing companies had resulted in a ban on labour migration to Malaysia in early 2009.
More than four lakh Bangladeshi workers were recruited during that time, but many had remained jobless, coerced into working without wage or were given low wages and many were deported penniless.
After four years of the freeze, Malaysia introduced recruitment through state management (G2G), but employed only 10,000 workers in its plantation sector in more two years.

In late June, Malaysia's Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said his country would recruit 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers in the next three years through private sector (B2B). He also said a similar number of irregular or undocumented workers already in Malaysia would be deported.

ONLINE RACE

Malaysia plans to introduce an online system for the management of workers' recruitment, visa processing, medical checkups and the monitoring of workers, officials at the expatriates' welfare ministry and Baira said.

However, Malaysia suspended a similar online system on January 26 two weeks after its introduction following allegations from Indonesia and Nepal that their workers were being charged higher fees.

These countries had also threatened to stop sending workers to Malaysia if Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS) was used and biometric health checks were done.

Malaysia had outsourced the services to Bestinet, which is owned, among others, by Tan Sri Azmi Khalid, a leader of the Malaysian ruling party, and Bangladeshi Aminul Islam, who has permanent resident status in Malaysia.

Aminul Islam, who went to Malaysia as a worker over a decade ago, got PR status marrying a Malaysian and had made a fortune through manpower business over the years, sources said.

Some agents in Malaysia said Bestinet was now trying to introduce its system for recruiting Bangladeshi workers.

Another IT company, Real Time Networking Sdn Bhd, registered in Malaysia on March 5 this year, was also trying to have a contract with the Malaysian home ministry for an online system on recruitment and monitoring of Bangladeshi workers, a Baira source said. 

The owners of Real Time Networking include Dato Raja Azahar bin Abdul Manap, Dato Abdul Hakim bin Hamidi, Dato Md Abu Hanif bin Abul Kashem (a Bangladeshi with Malaysian PR status), Datin Nur Firzanah, Abbas Ali and Rosli Ab Ghani.

The Baira official said one shareholder of Real Time was a close relative of a powerful Malaysian minister and others were connected to the ruling party one way or the other.   

Involvement of politically backed people in the migration of Bangladeshi workers could result in problems, the official said.

THAT MANY WORKERS?

Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) Executive Director Datuk Hj Shamsuddin Bardan said they were focusing on local labour instead of foreign workers.

“Outlook of our economy is not that encouraging. Ringgit is depreciating and petroleum price is going down. The demand for services and product is declining,” he told The Daily Star over the phone on July 27.

Malaysia's state-owned oil firm Petronas reported in late May a net profit of 11.4 billion ringgit for the January-March period, which was 7.3 billion ringgit lower than that of the same period in 2014, according to Reuters.

These factors led to about 10,000 job cuts in Malaysia as of July this year, Malaysian newspaper Daily Express quoted Shamsuddin as saying in a report on July 23.

"Also, the government has decided not to employ new staff, save for critical or sensitive posts," said Shamsuddin, adding that this would affect about 10 percent of the job market and leads to an economic slowdown.

Against this backdrop, MEF had requested the government to review its decision to recruit 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers. The MEF has not received any response from the Malaysian government yet, he said.

4.6M IRREGULAR WORKERS

Malaysia said it would deport 1.5 million illegal migrants in phases as it recruits the same number.

Malaysian Trade Union Congress Secretary General N Gopal Kishnam said the country had some 2.4 million documented and 4.6 million undocumented migrant workers.

Of an estimated six lakh Bangladeshis there, 3 lakh are irregular. 

“The government has to address the issue of the undocumented migrant workers first and then, if needed, recruit fresh workers,” he told The Daily Star.

Regularising the irregular migrants would help Malaysian economy as they were already skilled and know the local language, he said.

Contacted, Bangladesh High Commissioner in Malaysia Shahidul Islam said creating job opportunities abroad was important for Bangladesh, but it must be at low cost.

“For this to happen, we are discussing various options, including online system. Nothing is finalised yet,” he told The Daily Star at Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur recently.

Malaysia now has a shortage of 57 lakh workers, and if Bangladeshis do not take the opportunity, others will, he said.

On regularising undocumented workers, Shahidul said it was a security issue for Malaysia, especially those coming to Malaysia through the sea.- Daily Star, 10/8/2015

1 comment:

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The demand for services and product is declining,” he told The Daily Star over the phone on July 27.
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