Ex-minister swipes at PM over Harapan's foreign workers management failure
The previous Harapan cabinet had since February last year received 40 recommendations on foreign workers management but none were implemented until the day the government was toppled and replaced by Perikatan Nasional.
Former human resources minister M Kulasegaran (above) said the recommendations were made by the Special Independent Committee on Foreign Worker Management in its report submitted to the Harapan cabinet in February.
The previous Harapan cabinet had since February last year received 40 recommendations on foreign workers management but none were implemented until the day the government was toppled and replaced by Perikatan Nasional.
Former human resources minister M Kulasegaran (above) said the recommendations were made by the Special Independent Committee on Foreign Worker Management in its report submitted to the Harapan cabinet in February.
In an apparent swipe at Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who was then home minister, Kulasegaran said the ongoing problem of irregular workers would have been addressed if the Home Ministry had been firm, transparent and corruption-free in its management of foreign labour.
"The Home Ministry has a long history of managing foreign workers that has led to entrenched interests that would not readily give up its privileges, what more if it involves lucrative deals or doing away with relationships cultivated over the years," he said in a statement today.
Kulasegaran had first announced the formation of the special committee headed by former Court of Appeal judge Hishamuddin Yunus in August 2018, several months after Harapan took over Putrajaya.
Kulasegaran said he had met Muhyiddin in February last year to discuss the implementation of the committee's recommendations.
"As far as I know I did my duty to hand over the independent report to the (Harapan) cabinet," he said in response to veteran politician Daim Zainuddin's critic of Harapan's failure to reduce the number of foreign workers in the country.
Following the tabling of the report to cabinet, Kulasegaran said another committee headed by then chief secretary to the government Ismail Bakar was set up to suggest how the recommendations should be implemented.
He also concurred with Daim's view that vested interests had "hijacked" the federal government's policies on migrant workers during the tenure of Harapan's rule, indirectly causing today’s problems in handling foreign workers.
"Although there was pressure from many 'individuals' on the management of foreign workers, I believed that the recommendations from the special independent committee was the best way forward and did not consider changing my stance.
"Not a single proposal of the report has been implemented to date," he added.
In a prepared interview sent to media agencies, Daim (above), who formerly headed the Council of Eminent Persons said he had personally written to then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad with recommendations that would ultimately lead to a more sustainable foreign worker policy.
The former finance minister also said the consequences of Harapan's failure to reduce the number of foreign workers and undocumented migrants could be seen today in challenges faced during the management of the Covid-19 pandemic involving the groups.
Kulasegaran further urged the PN government to follow up and implement the recommendations made in the special committee report.
"Among the core recommendations were for the establishment of the Human Resources Ministry as the single authority for the management of all foreign workers.
"Further, it stipulated the development of an end-to-end single online system for recruitment of foreign labour," he said.
He pointed out that Malaysia is the only country in Asia where its foreign workers management policies, particularly on recruitment quotas and issuance of permits, are placed under the jurisdiction of the Home Affairs Ministry rather than the Human Resources Ministry.
"The Covid-19 (infections) among foreign workers were largely a symptom of neglect and it’s time for the Home Ministry to hand over the management of foreign workers to the Human Resources Ministry," he stressed.
Describing the recruitment process as one that allows the exploitation of migrant workers, then MACC chief Latheefa Koya had said its reforms should begin with taking away the Home Ministry's powers and returning it to the Human Resources Ministry.
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