Press statement by Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers President Tan Sri Dato’ Soh Thian Lai.
The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) welcomes the Government’s announcement on easing the hiring rules for foreign workers in the country by doing away with the existing preconditions including quotas and allowing recruitment to be conducted based on the company’s affordability and needs via the Pelan Kelonggaran Penggajian Pekerja Asing (Plan to Facilitate the Hiring of Foreign Workers) as announced by YAB Prime Minister today.
While we recognise that the Plan is a temporary measure to meet the country’s economic development needs, the industry welcomes the urgent attention given by the Government on the labour needs raised by industries and thanks the Government for recognising the importance and complementary role that foreign workers play in supporting economic recovery especially during this period of prolonged uncertainty with 2023 forecasted to be a tough year as global growth is expected to slow down, global inflation to remain elevated and trade volume to contract.
We also welcome the extension of the Recalibration Programme under the Illegal Immigrant Recalibration Plan 2.0 (IIRP) specifically for the Manpower Recalibration Programme (MRP) until December 2023. This is a good move by the Government as the workers who would be eligible for this scheme are experienced and trained workers thus reducing the time required to get them trained or retrained by the new employers.
FMM would like to suggest and reiterate the following in the implementation of the IIRP 2.0:
i. The IIRP should come under a single administration, preferably the Immigration Department as this would eliminate any undue confusion in the process and any middlemen trying to capitalise from these schemes by offering workers at a fee;
ii. The IIRP should cater for those illegal workers wanting to return to their home country without any blacklisting as well as those seeking to be legalised and rehired;
iii. Make available a repository of workers available at the detention centres;
iv. Workers whose employers were unable to get their worker permits renewed or send
them back during the Covid-19 pandemic Movement Control Order period which has since rendered them illegal should be considered under this scheme;
v. The same easing of conditions on hiring rules for foreign workers should apply for the legalisation and rehiring of the illegal workers;
vi. The entire process should be conducted online including introducing flexibility on payment modes which would allow for larger number of workers to be processed via a single submission as there are currently payment limits imposed for each debit/credit card payment;
vii. Consider a review of the compound charges by bringing it down to RM900 similar to the rate of the previous Rehiring Programme in 2016 from the current RM1500 being imposed;
viii.The procedures and conditions must also be made clear to the Embassies which will facilitate the renewal or issuance of new passports for their nationals that are seeking to be legalised and rehired.
The industry looks forward to the details of the Pelan Kelonggaran Penggajian Pekerja
Asing (Plan to Facilitate the Hiring of Foreign Workers) and the IIRP 2.0 which we hope will
be released soon and preferably engagement sessions with stakeholders for clear
understanding and interpretation of the new procedures.
Easing of Hiring Rules for Foreign Workers and Extension of the Recalibration Programme
Welcomed.