Cut red tape now to bring in foreign workers, bosses tell Putrajaya as work slows down in major sectors

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MEF proposed one stop centre under the Human Resources ministry

17 Feb 2022 12:09pm

MEF says there are unable to meet new orders due to shortage of workers

SHAH ALAM -- Bosses have expressed frustrations over the delay in bringing in new foreign workers to Malaysia as work slows down in plantation, construction, manufacturing, restaurants and services sector.

They have proposed the recruitment and management of foreign workers including foreign domestic workers be placed under one ministry.

Malaysian Employers Federation President Datuk Syed Hussain Syed Husman said with the opening of all economic sectors, employers need foreign labour in various sectors as locals are not keen to fill in the vacancies.

"But the process of bringing in new foreign foreign workers to Malaysia had not been smooth thus far and employers are still waiting for the arrival of new foreign workers," he said in a statement to Sinar Daily.

He said Human Resources ministry could get all the requirements approved instead of cross ministry involvement to avoid bureaucracy. "We believe the ministry being the custodian of labour working with employers and unions should be the one stop ministry. to regulate and manage this," he said..

Syed Hussain said a one stop centre under the human resources ministry would resolve most of the issues on recruitment and management of foreign workers.

” Due to the freeze on recruitment of foreign workers and the inability to replace workers, employers are facing serious shortages of workers.

"Businesses are losing billions and the longer we wait the more we lose," he said, citing an example of palm oil plantations losing more than RM 1bil per month due to the delay.

He urged Putrajaya to look into the shortage of more than 75,000 workers in the plantation sector and even though the government has so far approved the intake of 32,000 new foreign workers in September 2021, none of them have arrived yet.

The construction sector in the country is facing a "serious shortage" of workers causing construction projects to fall behind schedule.

"Shortage of workers severely impacted production especially in the E& E industry, it has disrupted the supply chain and business operations," he said, resulting in delays in meeting new orders from both local and foreign buyers.