Freeze intake of foreign workers, including Bangladeshis - Ahmad Zahid
Suganthi Suparmaniam
February 19, 2016 13:17 MYT
February 19, 2016 13:17 MYT
Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had ordered the intake for all foreign workers including from Bangladesh to be frozen, immediately.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had ordered the intake for all foreign workers including the 1.5 million Bangladesh workers to be frozen, with immediate effect.
Ahmad Zahid is also calling on local employers to hire locals instead of depending on foreign labour.
Yesterday, the government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to bring in 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers into Malaysia over a span of three years.
According to media reports, the recruitment would be carried out under the government-to-government (G2G) Plus System, which will help control or curb the involvement of agents, increase in payroll costs and hopefully, the exploitation of foreign workers.
Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot earlier today said Malaysia will not be taking in all the 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers based on the MoU signed in Bangladesh on Thursday.
He said the number actually referred to the number of Bangladeshis registered with the ministry in Bangladesh to work in 139 countries worldwide.
“Malaysia is one of the countries. The actual amount of workers to be taken by Malaysia will be determined based on the request by the companies,” he said.
The issue of bringing in 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers sparked intense debates in the country following Ahmad Zahid's announcement on the matter last July.
Besides social ills, one other main concern was that the labour import could affect job opportunities for locals.