DAP Beruas MP Ngeh Koo Han and Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran have called for Human Resources Minister M. Saravanan to fulfil his promise to resign as promised after he admitted to many weaknesses in his Ministry in the sourcing, approving and getting foreign workers to enter Malaysia. Ngeh had outlined 15 weaknesses in the Ministry and provided 7 proposals for improvements in his statement on 5 October 2022.
One of the most glaring weaknesses is the failure to get foreign workers to come in after approval has been given. This was admitted by Saravanan when his Ministry’s own figures showed that out of the workers approved, the percentage of workers entering the country is less than 20% in many sectors such as construction and plantation. What then is the point of giving hundreds of thousands or even millions of approvals for foreign workers if they cannot enter?
This failure is the principal reason for the current severe shortage of foreign workers that has adversely affected not just entire industries but also the operations of SMEs, smallholders and hawkers. As a result, Saravanan agreed with our suggestion of decentralisation to the respective states and processing through online. This should be implemented quickly and not the current processing through the Klang Valley.
He also agreed that the existing complaints channel in the Ministry of Human Resources under Jabatan Tenaga Kerja Semenanjung Malaysia(https://ejas.mohr.gov.my/) be expanded to include employers facing problems relating to both seeking foreign workers approval and getting the approved workers to enter Malaysia after approval. Saravanan said that all complaints will be responded within 7 days by the Ministry. Complainants should ignore any third parties who somehow know of their complaints and claims to be able to resolve their problems for a fee.
Should there be no response after complaining to the website at (https://ejas.mohr.gov.my/) after 7 days, the Director of Jabatan Tenaga Kerja Semenanjung Malaysia Dato Seri Asri Rahman has asked that a direct complaint can then be made to one of the following relevant officer.
a) Puan Hasmiza binti Hassan at [email protected] from the One Stop Centre Bahagian Pengurusan Pekerja Migran (BPPM).
b) Puan Nurafezah binti Jaafar at [email protected] from the Jabatan Tenaga Kerja Semenanjung Malaysia.
c) Encik Shukri at [email protected] from Bestinet.
If there is still no response, the public or employers can complain to my officer at [email protected], for us to pursue directly with the Ministry.