Delay in tabling Social Work Profession Bill negatively impacts those in need

Social workers provide much needed help to society's most vulnerable, yet they remain unrecognised because the Social Work Profession Bill has not been tabled in Parliament even after being drafted since 2010. Illustration: The Star/Zulhaimie Baharuddin

Social work is not regulated nor recognised as a profession by law in Malaysia. While the drafting of the Social Work Profession Bill began in 2010, it has yet to be tabled in Parliament. This, says social worker and Holistic Integrated Services Team (HISTeam) founder and CEO Andrew Wong, is “our biggest disappointment” as social workers.

Wong, 52, who has been in the social work profession for 26 years and has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Community Development from Universiti Putra Malaysia, says that “as a nation, we have underestimated the cost of not investing in the social work profession in our country”.