KL to change policy on foreign workers

Malaysia has planned policies to promote automation in its industries and impose higher levies to reduce its dependence on low-skilled foreign workers.

Such a plan contained in the 11th Malaysia Plan Mid-term Review 2016-2020 was tabled in the Dewan Rakyat, the Malaysia's House of Representatives in parliament, on Thursday, reports Free Malaysia Today.

The government would encourage automation and mechanisation, especially in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors, to reduce dependency on foreign workers in Malaysia, home to some one million Bangladeshi migrants.

“A gradual and progressive levy system, based on the number of foreign workers employed, will be implemented to reduce and regulate the number of foreign workers more stringently,” the report states.

Earlier on October 16, an official of Malaysia's home ministry said they were planning to follow a Singapore model of charging higher levies for hiring foreign workers -- the more you hire, the more you pay.

“For instance, if an employer pays RM 1,850 for one migrant worker, and the employer wishes to bring in 150 workers, the first 50 migrant workers will be charged RM 1,850 [each] and the balance of 100 migrant workers will be charged a higher levy,” Khairil Shah from the ministry's Foreign Workers Division told a panel discussion on migrant workers organised by the Bar Council on October 16.

He said the government was looking at ways to decrease a foreign worker's duration of employment to less than 10 years.

Currently, a foreign worker's employment period could be extended to 13 years, with an annual levy of RM 10,000 after the 10th year, he added.

Other proposals raised in the discussion included limiting the number of workers based on the requirements of the respective sectors.

The report says the Malaysian government will also amend the Employment Act, 1955.

“This will enable better management, prevent exploitation as well as monitor the remittance of money by foreign workers,” the report observes.