PETALING JAYA: New foreign workers are trickling into the country, leading to Malaysian employers pressing for a clear stand on the status of the freeze on such recruitments.

Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) executive director Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan said new workers had been arriving in Malaysia to fill critical shortages following an intake freeze in February and companies were thus confused as to whether the ban was still on.

He said employers had started applying for new workers since news reports emerged in May about a lifting of the freeze on hiring of such foreigners in the manufacturing, construction, plantation and furniture sectors.

However, there had been conflicting announcements since then, leaving employers scratching their heads.

The then Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Sakib Kusmi, also in May, said the Government would only ease the ban after its five-month rehiring programme for illegal foreign workers concluded on June 30.

On June 1, the Home Ministry announced it would not lift the blanket ban on foreign workers until it was convinced that employers, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), stopped using agents and took full responsibility of their workers’ welfare.

“There seemed to be different policy consideration. Many bosses are not sure if they can apply for new foreign workers,” Shamsuddin said.

He said it was time for the Government to make clear its hiring policy on new foreign workers.

“As a matter of national interest, an official announcement must be made so everyone is clear,” he said.

Shamsuddin said some employers could not wait and were already going to source countries to recruit workers.

This explained the long queues at Immigration counters by employers desperate to fill vacancies, he claimed.

These employers had resorted to such an action in view of the need to fill critical shortages as a result of the intake freeze in February, which reportedly led to RM24bil in losses.

Malayan Agricultural Producers Association (Mapa) executive director Mohamad Audong said they were expecting an official announcement after Hari Raya.

He said Mapa members needed 15,000 workers and were applying for new intakes of Indonesians and Bangladeshis to work in the oil palm, rubber and coconut plantations.

“The peak harvesting season has just started and will last for the next five months. If we don’t get workers, the fruits will rot,” he said.

(Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told the Dewan Rakyat on June 19 that the freeze had led to businesses losing RM24bil of which RM2bil was due to fruits left unharvested in the plantation sector.)

Mohamad said that not even a single foreign worker was hired to work in Mapa plantations during the Government’s rehiring programme because no one applied for it.

“The illegal workers already in the country would rather work in the services or manufacturing sectors,” he added.

Only 124,279 illegal workers out of the estimated 1.4 million in the country were reported to have been employed under the rehiring programme.

“The rehiring programme appeared to have not work,” he said.

MEF’s Shamsuddin said the rehiring programme was flawed.

The illegal foreign workers themselves, he said, should have been allowed to apply to be rehired, at no cost, instead of the employers doing so.

Subsequently, any employer with vacancies should be allowed to hire from the pool, he added.

For the long term, Shamsuddin acknowledged that employers must reduce their dependence on foreign workers through new technology.

He also pointed out that there were 500,000 unemployed Malaysians and called for this workforce to be maximised along with those above 60 years old who were still able to work.

“With the right national policy and incentive, we can reduce our need for foreign labour,” he said.

Resource : The Star Online