One Channel System for foreign workers should not be involved with payments, say stakeholders

PETALING JAYA: The One Channel System (OCS) portal to recruit foreign workers should not involve payments, say stakeholder groups.

Speaking about the proposal by portal developer 3S Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Association of Employment Agencies Malaysia (PAPA) president Datuk Foo Yong Hooi said the arrangement would require recruitment agencies to make payments through the portal before receiving any worker biodata.

He noted during a press conference on Tuesday (March 15), the developer could not justify the purpose of requiring Malaysian recruitment agencies to make the advance payment through the portal.

The press conference was also attended by the Malaysia National Association of Employment Agencies (Pikap), National Association of Private Employment Agencies Malaysia (PAPSMA) and National Association of Human Resources Malaysia (Pusma).

Foo said the proposed portal should only be a processing system for application instead of being involved in payment collection, training and quarantine arrangements.

He added the portal's service provider could not provide the groups any assurance on the warranty or compensation should there be a failure to deliver on the part of Indonesian recruitment agencies.

Foo also said the requirement for a full payment to be made in advance, would hinder a number of local recruitment agencies which are unable to afford to restart their services following the pandemic.

“The current system imposed by the National Disaster Management Malaysia (Nadma) and Health Ministry (MOH) have been implemented smoothly and the respective agencies have been putting their effort into reducing the cost of quarantine,” said Foo.

“The directive from the Human Resources Ministry to use quarantine centres arranged by the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System has potentially intruded on the right of employers to choose the quarantine centre that meets their expectation and budget,” Foo added.

He also said the Ministry should not be assisting a commercial entity to monopolise the quarantine centre market, adding this is beyond its jurisdiction.

Foo however added the groups supported the proposed portal’s role in processing, supervising and monitoring the recruitment of foreign workers.

The OCS is one of the key points that has been agreed by both the Malaysian and Indonesian government in the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the recruitment and placement of Indonesian domestic workers).

The signing of the MOU has seen several postponements and Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M Saravanan on Tuesday (March 15) said the document will be inked on April 1.