Datuk M. Saravanan should resign as promised since it has been shown that there are multitude of weaknesses with his Ministry in regard to the recruitment of foreign workers to solve the acute shortage of workers

‘The application for foreign workers is so complicated and uncertain that you can vomit blood’ summarises the feeling of employers generally in Malaysia.

Human Resource Minister, Datuk Seri M. Saravanan is like as ostrich with his head in the sand, in delusion or he may be thinking that if he bravely speaks a lie people will believe him when he challenged Member of Parliament for Bagan, Lim Guan Eng that he will resign if the latter can find flaws in his Ministry’s effort to overcome the acute shortage of workers.

This is not the first time Datuk M. Saravanan put up a brave front when he told a lie. On 26th July 2022 he told Parliament that the application for foreign workers can be done online without having to go through an agent and I told him that it was a big lie. He then challenged me to prove that he was lying. I subsequently showed him it was impossible for employers to get approval of foreign workers due to the various obstacles at the Human Resource Ministry and the Home Ministry without the help of an agent who has internal contacts in the Ministries and that some people in his ministry were collecting RM1,500.00 per foreign worker before an interview is granted to an employer applying for the quota to employ foreign workers.

In response, Datuk M. Saravanan immediately decided that interviews can be conducted in each respective states and not solely at Human Resource Ministry at Putrajaya and that it will conduct walk-in interviews rather than the ministry fixing the interviews. Not long thereafter, 10 people were arrested by MACC related to corruption the in the Human Resource Ministry.

The problems are far from over and it is still very difficult to get approval for foreign workers quota.

The following 11 and many more are reasons why Datuk M. Saravanan should resign as promised.

1. It still takes months for the application for foreign workers quota to be processed not unlike the situation before the recent changes made by him. Is there an unspoken intention that the long process will ensure that the employers are forced to give bribes again? For the past few years, it took so long for an application to be processed and it was almost impossible to get an application approved without using an agent who has the Ministry’s internal contact. However, if you use an agent with additional payment, the approval could be obtained quickly.
2. Applications are rejected arbitrarily stating reasons that are untrue. For example an application is rejected on the ground that the applicant has not advertised at Jobstreet when this has been done or that the applicant is not entitled to apply for more workers when the Human Resource Ministry’s guidelines state that the employer is entitled to more workers.
3. Conducting mandatory interviews which are totally unnecessary as the Human Resource Ministry does not ask for any additional information during the interview which are not contained in the application or the supporting documents that were enclosed with the application.
4. An employer cannot proceed with the application through the FWCMS website when it states that the employer’s data needs to be updated. In order to update the data, the applicant has to go personally to the Home Ministry and Human Resource Ministries which are at Putrajaya! Why can’t the updating of data be done through the FWCMS website?
5. After the interview is conducted, no time is specified when the levy payment slip will be issued. Employers are left in the dark.
6. After levy payment is made, the payment receipt and the letter of approval printed out from the computer have to be brought all the way to the Human Resource Ministry in Putrajaya to be stamped and certified as original copies. Whether the receipt and the approval letter are genuine should be verified from the system and not using a rubber stamp which can be easily forged.
7. FWCMS is not linked to e-PLKS of the Home Ministry. Why can’t it be linked? The employer has to open a separate account with the Home Ministry for the e-PLKS.
8. Employer has to be present physically at the Home Ministry at Putrajaya to apply for the e-PLKS account. Why can’t it be applied online or at the immigration offices nationwide?
9. Have been informed that the application for e-PLKS has been shifted from Putrajaya immigration office to Kuala Lumpur immigration office. However, the Kuala Lumpur immigration office is not ready to receive applications.
10. Current walk-in interview caused many people to queue up even at 4.00am in the morning when office opens only at 8.00am. On 29/8/2022 it was reported that more that 1,000 employers turned up for the required interview but many were turned away as the ministry could only process about 300 applications. Imagine the disappointment of the employers who came from very far away and have waited since early morning only to be turned away. Why can’t Human Resource Ministry arrange a systematic method for the employers to turn up for the interview? As stated earlier this interview is totally unnecessary and should be scrapped.
11. Multiple changes in the application process both at the Human Resource Ministry and the Home Ministry caused the employers to be at a loss on how to apply for the quota for foreign workers.

The Minister is not important, the nation is important. Due to the failure of the Human Resource Minister and the government in handling the acute shortage of labour, it is estimated than our nation suffers about RM100 billion in losses every year.

As Datuk Saravanan is totally incompetent to manage his ministry he should gracefully resign as promised.