3,927 accommodation certificate applications received from September to November

The Certificate of accommodation is under Section 24D of the Minimum Standards of Housing, Accommodation and Employee facilities Act 1990 [Act 446].

Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan said so far, about 40 per cent of applications have been approved while the rest are in the process of scrutiny and some have had their applications rejected.

According to him, employers or accommodation providers from the manufacturing, construction, agriculture and services sectors are the ones who have applied the most.

“The application and compliance of Act 446 is important in line with standards of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) where local and foreign workers should be provided with basic accommodation which is conducive in many aspects.

“I announced in June that starting from Sept 1, we have to enforce Act 446 while any company that does not comply with the act will be liable to a fine of RM50,000 for each offence,” he told reporters after handing over the Certificate of Accommodation to Kujaya Management Sdn Bhd at Frontier Park, Desa Cemerlang here today.

In another development, when asked about the World Bank’s proposal to extend the retirement age to 65 years, Saravanan said that Malaysia had not thought about it.

Instead the government now wants to focus on efforts to address unemployment in the country as well as the provision of employment opportunities for Malaysians despite the current economic and health crisis, he said.

Regarding the entry of foreign workers into Malaysia, he said the matter would only be considered after efforts to tackle the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic that hit the country was overcome.

The decision to bring in foreign workers should also take into account the spread of the pandemic and the level of health in the countries of the foreign workers who would be brought in, he added.

“We also cannot bring foreign workers from countries that cannot handle the transmission of COVID-19. While we really need foreign workers, but the safety and health of Malaysians are much more important,” he said.