PETALING JAYA: The government will officially stop using the Foreign Worker Application System (SPPA) to hire workers from Bangladesh effective Sept 1.
This follows the meeting of the Special Committee on Foreign Worker Management on Aug 14 chaired by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“Any decision on the matter will be determined after a full study and the implementation is carried and approved by the Cabinet,” Home Ministry deputy secretary-general (policy and control) Datuk Khairul Dzaimi Daud said in a letter to Synerflux Sdn Bhd, one of the local companies involved.
He said the decision was in line with the terms and conditions which stated that the government reserved the right to discontinue or postpone the implementation of the policy and would not be liable for damages.
He said the government had also agreed that the affected employers would be allowed to get refunds.
Dr Mahathir said the government would create a single system to hire foreign workers without differentiating the source country.
The Star had earlier reported that Bangladeshi workers paid RM20,000 each to their local agents who then paid half the sum to a syndicate to facilitate work permit approvals and flight tickets to Malaysia.
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