30-day grace period for temporary work pass holders - deputy minister
The Home Ministry has given a 30-day grace period to holders of the Temporary Employment Visit Pass (PLKS) that expired during the enforcement of the movement control order (MCO), to reapply for the permits.
Deputy Home Minister I Ismail Mohamed Said said that following the enforcement of the MCO due to the Covid-19 outbreak, those detained would be granted with this special pass for them to apply for the extension of their PLKS for a period of one year....
The Home Ministry has given a 30-day grace period to holders of the Temporary Employment Visit Pass (PLKS) that expired during the enforcement of the movement control order (MCO), to reapply for the permits.
Deputy Home Minister Ismail Mohamed Said (above) said that following the enforcement of the MCO due to the Covid-19 outbreak, those detained would be granted with this special pass for them to apply for the extension of their PLKS for a period of one year.
This was also to help employers who were in need of workers, he added.
He said that between Jan 1 and July 2, about 2,766 out of 1,545,101 PLKS holders were arrested for overstaying.
“However it (approval for the extension of PLKS) is subject to the health screenings under Fomema (Foreign Workers Medical Examination Monitoring Agency) and existing procedures of the Immigration Department,” he said during the question and answer session in Dewan Rakyat today.
He was replying to a question raised by Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid (Harapan-Kapar) on the number of documented foreign workers who continued to work with expired permits as well as safety and health monitoring on these workers.
Meanwhile, to a supplementary question from Abdullah Sani (below) about the proposal on the use of the radio frequency identification (RFID) tag on migrant workers, Ismail said the government would conduct a study for the proposal to be implemented.
In a related development, Ismail said about 546 back roads had been identified nationwide, however, the locations kept changing, making it difficult for the enforcement authorities.
“Patrol activities at the strategic areas using the assets of enforcement agencies such as the armed forces and police have been increased to monitor identified back roads,” he added.
He said this in his reply to a question from Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz (PAS-Bachok) on strategic measures taken to detect back roads and the smuggling of undocumented migrants into the country.
Ismail also said that as of June, 1,622 individuals who were involved in the smuggling of migrants and national treasures, had been arrested via "Op Benteng" with a total seizure valued at RM31.5 million.
Hence, to address the issue of the smuggling of migrants into the country, specifically during the Covid-19 pandemic, he said that the government had approved an allocation of RM45.1 million to police to purchase 200 units of four-wheel-drive vehicles and 300 units of scrambler motorcycles.
- Bernama
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