995,396 foreign worker applications approved as of March 14

A TOTAL of 995,396 employment quota applications for foreign workers have been approved as of March 14, says Deputy Human Resources Minister Mustapha Sakmud.

He added that the levy on 84.7% of the foreign workers was paid by their employers.

“After that, the employers are given 18 months to bring the workers into Malaysia,” he said during Question Time.

Mustapha said most of the quota applications approved were for workers in the manufacturing sector, followed by construction, services, plantations, agriculture, mining and quarrying.

However, he did not provide any figures on the employment quota applications that were approved in each sector.

Mustapha was responding to Chow Kon Yeow (PH-Batu Kawan), who asked about the number of workers expected to be brought in and the time needed to overcome the current labour shortage.

Chow also asked about measures taken by the government in addressing issues with the management of foreign labour.

Mustapha said the authorities had received many complaints about foreign workers and errant employers.

“There have been cases where foreign workers were left at the airport after they arrived here.

“Some cases were due to the employers who wanted to reduce their quota of workers after approval had been given,” he added.

He said Malaysia had established labour cooperation for the hiring of foreign workers through memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with 10 source countries.

However, only eight countries have MOUs still in force with Malaysia. They are Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Pakistan, Vietnam, Nepal and Cambodia.

“The MOUs with India and Sri Lanka had expired,” he said.

Mustapha said the new MOU with the Indian government was finalised by the ministry on March 13.

“The MOU with India is expected to be signed before the end of the first quarter this year,” he added.