The government has been urged to eliminate the use of middlemen or labour brokers in the management of migrant workers.

"The E-registration (system) is a failure because middlemen are still playing an important role," said DAP lawmaker Charles Santiago in a press conference in Parliament today.

His suggestion came following an expose on the inner workings of the migrant labour industry in the country.

A recent documentary by Al Jazeera featured several agents admitting that they regularly pay off Home Ministry and Immigration Department officials, including those in high-ranking positions, when bringing migrant workers into the country.

Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, however, dismissed the documentary as untrue and that an investigation showed that the recording was made six months ago and that it was broadcasted as a series.

Zahid had said that the problem was resolved after the government introduced the online application for the registration of foreign workers.

Santiago, however, argued that the documentary had shown how government officers were working hand in hand with labour brokers.

"There is a nexus of corruption between government officers and labour brokers," claimed the Klang MP. 

Meanwhile, Santiago demanded that several memoranda of understanding (MOUs) signed by Malaysia with different countries be made public.

Lack of transparency in relation to the MOUs had led to migrant workers and employers being over charged by labour brokers, he said. 

"The agreement states how much migrant workers have to pay to come to Malaysia.

"But the agreement is only made available to labour brokers."

As such, Santiago believes that the government must turn back to aims stipulated in the 11th Malaysia Plan.

"The plan suggests that migrant workers can only constitute 15 percent of the workforce by 2020 and that the responsibility of migrant workers should fall on the Human Resources Ministry and not the Home Ministry.

"Zahid has to explain why it's not moving to the Human Resources Ministry. By moving to the Home Ministry, it can solve corruption.

"Al Jazeera had pointed out what everybody knew - the level of entrenched corruption," he added.

Now is, therefore, the time that the government formed a high-level committee to investigate and make recommendations to the government in the setting up of a national migration policy review, he noted. 

Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed, last week, dismissed the allegations made in the documentary and said that his ministry had taken action to stop the activities of agents at the ministry and Immigration Department by implementing more transparent online applications since April 1, this year.

“So the accusations in the Al Jazeera programme are late,” he said when contacted by Malaysiakini.

The documentary featured an agent who said the official online portal “recognised his account” when he logged in and said he was always approved for any number of migrant workers he applied for.

The report also claimed that Synerflux, the sole company tasked with running the online system, had been awarded the contract without an open tender process.