KUALA LUMPUR: Seven MPs have urged the government to halt the implementation of the proposed Universal Recruitment Advanced Platform (Turap), warning that it could create another private monopoly in Malaysia's foreign worker recruitment system if transparency concerns are not addressed.
In a joint statement on Monday (June 29), the lawmakers questioned whether the Cabinet had approved Turap and why Bestinet Sdn Bhd, the company behind the existing Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS), appeared poised to play another central role in the country's foreign worker recruitment ecosystem.
"Turap concerns recruitment, employer matching, immigration processes, worker mobility, recruitment costs, labour rights and sensitive personal data.
"Such a system cannot be decided behind closed doors or introduced as a fait accompli," they said.
The MPs, who include Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung, Subang Jaya MP Wong Chen and Balik Pulau MP Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik, acknowledged that Turap's stated aim of eliminating exploitative middlemen, directly matching employers with workers and reducing recruitment costs was widely supported.
However, they cautioned that digitalisation alone would not guarantee reform.
"Without transparency, enforcement and accountability, we may digitise the same old exploitation, in a more concentrated way," they said.
They also cited previous governance concerns surrounding FWCMS, noting that a Public Accounts Committee report found the system had operated for more than six years without a formal contract between the government and Bestinet.
The PAC had also highlighted weaknesses, including super administrator IDs not controlled by government officers and unauthorised users approving employer applications, while the Auditor-General's 2022 Report classified FWCMS management as unsatisfactory.
The MPs questioned why the government was considering another major platform involving the same company after subsequently formalising an agreement with Bestinet from June 2024 until January 2031 at RM215 per worker, compared with the previous RM100 rate.
Among the questions raised were whether Turap had received Cabinet approval, whether it was awarded to Bestinet through direct negotiations, whether it would be structured as a public-private partnership under the Public Private Partnership Unit (UKAS), and what safeguards would protect migrant workers from excessive recruitment fees and ensure the security of sensitive personal data.
They also questioned why another recruitment platform was needed when FWCMS already exists, and the National Integrated Immigration System (NIISe) is being developed.
The MPs stressed that while Malaysia urgently needs genuine reform to eliminate excessive recruitment fees, debt bondage and exploitative practices, "reform must not mean replacing many middlemen with one powerful private monopoly."
They called on Putrajaya to suspend any implementation of Turap until Parliament and the public are given full disclosure on its procurement process, commercial terms, governance framework and worker protection measures.
The other 4 MPs are Sungai Siput MP S. Kesavan, Ampang MP Rodziah Ismail, Wangsa Maju MP Zahir Hassan and Gopeng MP Tan Kar Hing
On Wednesday (June 24) Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail informed the Dewan Rakyat that Putrajaya had not received a formal request from Bangladesh to extradite Bestinet founder Mohamed Aminul Islam. He noted that Malaysia and Bangladesh do not have an extradition treaty.
Aminul Islam is alleged to have been involved in a scheme that fraudulently extorted money from victims and subjected them to both physical and mental torture. This information is based on a letter dated October 24, which Dhaka’s branch of Interpol sent to its counterpart in Malaysia.
