COMMENT | Halt the gravy train to give our country respectability
COMMENT | Five years ago, I wrote about a racket in which middlepersons appointed by the Home Ministry were milking off millions to “process” visa applications of workers coming to Malaysia. At that time, there were far too many “untouchables” in the civil service. The silence was deafening and the follies of the perpetrators may soon be heard in open court.
Previously, foreign workers or their agents could submit their applications directly to foreign missions and pay RM15 for processing. However, this inimitable ruling, which came into force in November 2014, required applicants of the foreign landing visa (VLN) to submit their forms to a one-stop centre (OSC). On top of that, another company has been appointed to carry out "immigration security clearance" (ISC) checks.
The ISC company is allowed to charge RM105 or its equivalent.
The company is supposed to identify applicants who have been blacklisted from entering the country. Payment to OSC was fixed at RM100 and charge for "VLN services" set at RM105. These additional expenses would have to be borne by employers although it was then not known how these companies were appointed.
At an estimate of 150,000 workers from Indonesia annually, intermediaries were pocketing RM61.5 million from the workers – not a sen went to the government. The Immigration Department only charged a prescribed fee – an annual levy of RM2,129.16 (including service charges) for workers in manufacturing and construction industries while estates and the agriculture sector workers paid RM818.33.
However, the current issue that the world’s leading glove manufacturer – Top Glove Corporation Bhd – is facing has little to do with the levy or the “gatekeepers’ fees”, but with recruitment fees which...
COMMENT | Five years ago, I wrote about a racket in which middlepersons appointed by the Home Ministry were milking off millions to “process” visa applications of workers coming to Malaysia. At that time, there were far too many “untouchables” in the civil service. The silence was deafening and the follies of the perpetrators may soon be heard in open court.
Previously, foreign workers or their agents could submit their applications directly to foreign missions and pay RM15 for processing. However, this inimitable ruling, which came into force in November 2014, required applicants of the foreign landing visa (VLN) to submit their forms to a one-stop centre (OSC). On top of that, another company has been appointed to carry out "immigration security clearance" (ISC) checks.
The ISC company is allowed to charge RM105 or its equivalent.
The company is supposed to identify applicants who have been blacklisted from entering the country. Payment to OSC was fixed at RM100 and charge for "VLN services" set at RM105. These additional expenses would have to be borne by employers although it was then not known how these companies were appointed.
At an estimate of 150,000 workers from Indonesia annually, intermediaries were pocketing RM61.5 million from the workers – not a sen went to the government. The Immigration Department only charged a prescribed fee – an annual levy of RM2,129.16 (including service charges) for workers in manufacturing and construction industries while estates and the agriculture sector workers paid RM818.33.
However, the current issue that the world’s leading glove manufacturer – Top Glove Corporation Bhd – is facing has little to do with the levy or the “gatekeepers’ fees”, but with recruitment fees which the worker is compelled to pay for finding employment in Malaysia.
This practice is prevalent in the foreign workers’ job market and Top Glove says it has implemented a “Zero Recruitment Fee Policy” since January last year. Agents are not allowed to collect agency or recruitment fees from foreign workers. The company now claims to be working to repay between RM20 million and RM50 million foreign workers had paid as “recruitment fees in the past”.
Last year, Sin Chew quoted Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) executive director Shamsuddin Bardan (below) as saying that the cost of hiring a foreign worker without a middleperson ranges between RM1,500 and RM5,000. However, going through an agent would inflate the cost several folds – from RM13,000 to RM14,000.
So, why can’t those employing large numbers of foreigners be allowed to recruit directly? In theory, they can but there have been claims of “roadblocks and barriers” by agent-cartels working hand-in-glove with government agencies and its officers.
Using MEF’s figures, a company like Top Glove which employs 11,000 foreigners could have in the pre-2019 period paid out RM154 million to agents.
So, why can’t the government simplify the procedures and facilitate direct recruitment? Well, it may not be within the knowledge of the company or its management if such fees are collected clandestinely by the agent in the home country as there could have been private arrangements between recruiter and worker.
However, why should this have happened in the first place? How was it allowed to start, grow and embed itself in the system?
Why shouldn’t the management, in this case, Top Glove, fly to Bangladesh or any other country, place an advertisement in the local newspapers, interview and select the workers themselves?
Once selection is done, why can't the landing visa applications be processed and issued by the High Commission in Dhaka? On arrival, these workers can go for medical tests and other formalities to get their work permits after paying the levy.
Simple? Yes. However, it will mean a loss of income for a lot of people, but it will result in more revenue for government coffers. The Statistics Department stated that data for 2019 shows that Malaysia’s labour force recorded 15.6 million people compared to 15.3 million in 2018. These comprise 13.3 million citizens and 2.3 million non-citizens.
However, Shamsuddin was quoted in another press report as saying “there could be up to 3.3 million undocumented workers in the country, against 2.2 million documented ones”.
Using these figures on undocumented workers as a base and at an average levy of RM2,000 each, the government has lost RM RM6.6 billion. Maybe this figure is not attracting the required attention of Putrajaya because it is a fraction of the money that Malaysia had lost through the 1MDB scandal.
Why should it take an action by a foreign government to compel us to put our house in order? Isn’t this a clarion call for Malaysia to put right its depraved conduct and its cavalier attitude towards foreign labour? Shouldn’t it put an end to employers who have been intoxicated by cheap labour and exploit them to enhance their margins?
Setting up proper systems is not rocket science either. But that would mean there will be no Porsches for the son – in blue and red; Bijan handbags for the wife; an upmarket condo for the second wife or the annual cruise around the world with the young, nubile celebrity wife in one's arm.
But will there be political will and determination to change? Will nothing be done to stop the gravy train to keep on rolling which has and still is benefitting so many people?
There was a golden opportunity to put an end and contain this Malaysian malaise last year when it was suggested that foreign workers come under the purview of the Human Resource Ministry from the Home Ministry.
But of course, there were loud protests like “we must have a say because it involves the security of the country” and it has remained status quo since. Anyway, who in his right mind would want to eliminate a man with the Midas touch or kill the goose that laid the golden eggs?
R NADESWARAN has written extensively on the exploitation of foreign workers and by unscrupulous employers who prioritise bottom lines at the expense of humans – their dignity and self-respect. Email him at citizen.nades22@gmail.com with your comments.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
