No problems in hiring migrant workers, minister says

Human Resources Minister M Saravanan has maintained that there are no outstanding problems in the migrant worker recruitment process.

This is after the government’s approval for a one-off arrangement to hire 10,000 people from Bangladesh to work in critical sectors.

“I do not see any employers complaining of problems with (hiring) workers.

“I met with FGV, Sime Darby Plantations, and they have started bringing in workers. No problem,” he said.

Saravanan (above), who is also MIC’s deputy president, spoke to reporters today after his ministry’s weekly “Meet The Customers” session held at his party’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

“Now we see the numbers arriving in Malaysia have increased. Overall, we are close to meeting all of the current needs (for migrant workers),” he said.

He previously promised a one-week approval time for employers applying to hire migrant workers from 14 source countries through the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS).

The first batch of 53 migrant workers recruited under new bilateral terms with Bangladesh arrived in Kuala Lumpur last month.

Since then, the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) secretary-general Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman told Malaysiakini there were only 2,209 recorded departures.

“So far, there were 40,000 requests approved by the Bangladesh High Commission (in Kuala Lumpur) but departures have been very low.

“Only the 25 agencies can give answers for the slow mobilisation,” said Shameem who previously led protests against the syndication of the labour industry.

The need for workers

Commenting further, Saravanan said Malaysia is recording a “satisfactory number” of migrant workers if taking into account those already here and pending departures from source countries.

“At the same time, we need these 10,000 workers for emergency, urgent demands, for certain sectors.

“There are several companies urgently needing workers so we bring in through this one-off arrangement,” he said, adding that so far 5,000 of the 10,000 workers have been hired.

Last Friday (Sept 23), the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) in a circular said it was allocated 2,100 workers from Bangladesh and member companies may hire up to 50 workers each.

In Bangladesh, the recruitment process involves the Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL) - a government-owned recruitment agency under the country’s Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry.

Saravanan recently came under fire for alleged weaknesses in the migrant workers’ recruitment process, including from DAP duo Lim Guan Eng and Ngeh Koo Ham.

He previously accepted Lim’s challenge to host a meeting at his ministry next Wednesday where the DAP chairperson promised to bring evidence and witnesses supporting their criticisms.

Contrary to Saravanan’s remarks that he received no complaints, Ngeh in a statement today said the minister must prepare a big hall for “hundreds if not thousands of employers or their representatives who will be attending the meeting” scheduled for Oct 5.

The Beruas MP also warned that Saravanan must be prepared to fulfil his promise of resigning as minister if there was evidence of his ministry’s failures.

Border closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic and recruitment bans imposed by the governments of Indonesia and Bangladesh - Malaysia’s top two source countries for migrant workers - led to a critical labour shortage in several sectors, including plantation, manufacturing, and construction.

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