Home Ministry to scrutinise PAC findings

PUTRAJAYA: Home Ministry officers will scrutinise the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) findings on the management of foreign workers and find ways to improve, says Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

The Home Minister said he followed the PAC report closely and assured ministry officers would scrutinise it.

"As the ministry that is also involved in managing foreign workers, we will try our best to improve.

"Improvements will be based on our four philosophies, which are: reduce migrant cost, speed up the process, ensure the welfare of foreign workers and ensure the interest of employers," he told a press conference after attending the police's Community Safety Run at Dataran Putrajaya on Saturday (July 6).

He commented on the recent PAC report highlighting weaknesses in foreign worker management.

It was reported that 24 unauthorised users approved applications to bring in foreign workers under the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS).

PAC chairman Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin said the committee found flaws in the FWCMS system's identification monitoring, where two user IDs did not belong to any Human Resources Ministry officer.

“There are 24 unauthorised users who had approved 24 applications by employers. This matter has been reported to the police so they can investigate it,” she said.

She said the FWCMS contract between the vendor and government had yet to be finalised and signed, even though an acceptance letter was issued on Jan 12, 2018, up to the PAC proceedings on March 13 this year.

Mas Ermieyati said the PAC proceedings found that the Cabinet had, on Aug 26, 2015, approved the development of the Foreign Workers Integrated Management System (ePPAx)and FWCMS, two separate systems under a single-window concept.