Long-awaited milestone for social workers

FOR nearly 20 years, Malaysia’s social workers have stepped into broken homes, protected vulnerable children from harm, acted as counsellors to bring dignity back to the abandoned elderly and helped rebuild communities hit by tough crises.

But despite the heavy burden they carried, they lacked the legal framework that recognised their work as a profession. For 16 long years, the promise of that legal framework remained a distant dream. That wait finally ended with the successful passage of the Social Work Profession Bill 2026 in Parliament on July 14.