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