The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) today called on the government to use the proposed amnesty programme to draw up long-term strategies and solutions to migrant workers issues.

Secretary-general Abdul Halim Mansor told Bernama that the amnesty was a good opportunity for the authorities to compile accurate data on the number of  foreigners, the industries they were employed, their wages, their country of origin, their expertise and their duration of stay.

With such details, it would be easy for the government to draw up effective monitoring mechanisms to keep tabs on these foreigners, he said.

According to him, at present neither the government nor employers or unions had accurate information on migrant workers.

“The lack of information hampered proper control of foreign workers, thus creating much unease and confusion among all stakeholders,” he said.

The government had earlier announced that the amnesty would begin in August where all illegal workers would be registered. At present the registration of legal workers is in full swing.

3.6 mil foreign workers an ‘estimate’

Abdul Halim said the present 3.6 million foreign legal and illegal workers' figure was “just an estimate” due to the absence of proper documentation and false declarations by agents.

He said legalising the workers should be the responsibility of the employers and they should bear all the cost and levy should not be deducted from the workers salaries.

Abdul Halim said many of the migrant workers who were now classified as illegal were in fact legal because they had come into the country with proper work permits, and it was the agents who made them illegal by assigning them to work in sectors other than that was specified in their permits.

He added that there were also numerous cases where levy was deducted from the workers salaries but agents and employers failed to submit to the Immigration Department and their work permits remained un-renewed thus making them illegal.  

- Bernama