The business community told the Home Ministry to take back the registration of illegal workers for the rehiring programme.

The rehiring programme was managed by e-government service provider MyEG Service Bhd (MyEG) since February 2016.

At a dialogue session held by the Immigration Department this evening, the Malaysian Associated Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MAICCI) slammed MyEG for unable to add value to the service offered.

The employers were charged RM1,134 for the rehiring programme fees without assurance that their applications would be approved, said MAICCI secretary-general AT Kumararajah.

"For this, I want to ask Home Ministry what is the value add that you can't do, because they used your thumbprint system (biometric scanner/machine) and officers," he said.

"I don't understand why a private company monopolises the situation to that extent," he added.

"That is why this rehiring process has always not seen the light of the day. It is such a big failure. Please, Home Ministry, take it back. We would love to work with you," he said.

The government allowed the illegal workers who came here through legal means initially, to register under the rehiring programme. A total of 200,000 people have registered so far.

Another businessman, Leong also claimed that the employers could not get their rehiring programme fees refunded if the foreign workers they hired were blacklisted by the government.

"This is one of the reason why there is so little response to the rehiring programme," he said.

He suggested the government should allow the employers to screen the illegal foreign labour to determine whether they were blacklisted.

MyEG director Mohd Jimmy Wong Abdullah, who attended the dialogue together with two vendors, refused to comment when approached by media personnels.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Paul Low said he would take up the issue and discuss with the relevant authority.

"We will look at the process itself. Obviously, it must be value added and efficient. You cannot charge something when you have not fulfilled the service," said Low when asked at a press conference later.

The government has proposed to impose a heavier fine against employers who hire illegal foreign workers, by doubling the fine to RM100,000, under the amendment to the Immigration Restriction Act, according to Low.

This is to curb the runaway foreign labour problem, he said, adding the amendment may be tabled in the coming Parliament session, commencing in March.

Meanwhile, Low also encouraged employers to reduce their dependency on foreign labour, in line with the 11th Malaysia Plan, which targeted the country to only hire 15 percent of foreign labour out of the total workforce.

Those who planned otherwise should shift their business outside the country, he said.

"If you are too dependent on foreign workers and cannot find foreign workers, I would ask you to shift to another country," he said.

"Help Myanmar and Bangladesh, if they have jobs provided (by Malaysian investors), they don't have to come here," he said.