
Image credit: Malaysiakini
KUALA LUMPUR: The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) is appealing to the government to fast track the proposed Anti-Ali Baba law as a means to manage the high number of undocumented workers in Malaysia.
In July this year, the Economy Ministry said it was studying several components to draft a specific law to curb rent-seeking culture in the country's business and economic structure.
The proposed law is intended to act against Malaysians who illegally rent-out their business licences to foreign workers without meeting certain conditions.
FMM president Tan Sri Soh Thian Lai said in a statement today that the proposed legislation should deter local businessmen from misusing the privileges given by the government for locals to operate businesses as well as deter foreigners from running businesses illegally.
This includes those foreign workers who run away from their legal employers to run their own business.
"We strongly urge the government to fast track this legislation to curb the rising social ills arising from improper use of permits intended for local businessmen."We believe that the main reason for the influx of undocumented foreign workers in the country stemmed from the previous policy of allowing outsource companies/agents to bring in foreign workers as outsourced workers and not as direct workers for industries. "Many workers were brought in via this channel with the promise of employment only to be left in a lurch without any proper work secured for them and these workers eventually became illegals as they needed to earn a living to send money home as well as pay of their financial obligations undertaken in order to come here in the first place," stated Soh.
He added the other factor contributing to the influx of undocumented workers is the weak enforcement which has allowed the undocumented workers to remain here for prolonged periods.
"FMM has and continues to advise members to ensure that employment of foreign workers be done directly by the employers with minimal use of agents so that they can be fully in control of the process of sourcing for the workers and the employment process. "FMM strongly believes that the collective steps towards addressing undocumented workers and implementation of the other labour reform initiatives including the multi-tier levy mechanism would be critical to the success of reducing dependency on foreign workers and towards moving to a high-income status nation," he added.
FMM represents over 12,200 member companies (3,800 direct and 8,400 indirect) in the manufacturing supply chain.
Source: https://www.nst.com.my/business/corporate/2024/01/996441/fmm-calls-fast-tracking-proposed-anti-ali-baba-law-manage