Some 1.9 million registered Malaysia foreign workers will have to undergo annual health screening from now on. Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the Cabinet has approved the new policy on health screening of foreign workers.
“We have approved annual health screening for foreign workers in Malaysia from now,” he told reporters after opening the Fruits and Vegetables Eating Campaign at Malaysia Agriculture, Horticulture and Agrotourism 2016 (MAHA 2016) here Tuesday.
However, Dr Subramaniam said the policy only affects legal and registered foreign workers.
He said the screening would cover several types of communicable diseases.
He added that the problem of tackling unscreened and illegal foreign workers was not solely the responsibility of the Health Ministry but one that needed a multi-agency approach.
He noted that Sabah was concerned that the influx of illegal workers had resulted in a rise in tuberculosis cases.
At present, foreign workers are screened in their own country before arriving here and again screened three times over the first three years.
Up to 3% of the foreign worker population, or about 60,000 of them, could be medically unfit.
Besides compelling Malaysia foreign workers to undergo annual medical check-up (fomema), they should also be made to carry a special health card, stating that they had done so.
In proposing this, Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said drastic action must be implemented to combat the spread of communicable diseases effectively.
“The authorities have been fighting hard to eliminate certain contagious diseases for decades but these are now coming back.
“One of the reasons is because we have a high number of foreign workers who come from countries with high prevalence of diseases such as cholera, tuberculosis and malaria,” he said.
Mohamad said several new cases of malaria were reported in Jelebu recently and these could be attributed to the presence of foreign workers there.
He commended the Health Ministry for reintroducing a policy which made it compulsory for foreign workers to undergo annual health checks.
“We are fully supportive of the move and hope it can be implemented quickly,” he said, adding that since all documented foreign workers were already required to carry the I-Kad, information on their health status should also be incorporated into it.
“The holder’s health information can be updated annually in the card as it has high technology features,” he said.
Mohamad said the authorities must take stern action against employers who refused to send their foreign workers for the check-up, including blacklisting them and having their workers deported.
In Ipoh, state executive councillor Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon said certain industries facing shortage of foreign workers would resort to hiring illegal foreigners.
“These workers not only pose potential health hazard to them (employers) but also to the nation.
“Employers must strive to get workers using the proper channels,” he said.
“We have been having stringent procedures for the screening of these communicable diseases such as tuberculosis (TB), malaria, HIV/AIDS and hepatitis for the new intake of foreign workers into Malaysia. And if they are found to be infected with HIV/AIDS, syphilis and hepatitis, they will be deported to their country of origin,” Dr Jerip
Malaysia foreign workers who contracted HIV/AIDS, syphilis and hepatitis will be deported to their countries of origin, said Assistant Minister of Public Health Datuk Dr Jerip Susil.
At the same time, the state Health Department will continue to impose stringent health procedures for these and other communicable diseases on new intake of foreign workers before they are allowed to work in various sectors in the state, he added.
“We have been having stringent procedures for the screening of these communicable diseases such as tuberculosis (TB), malaria, HIV/AIDS and hepatitis for the new intake of foreign workers. And if they are found to be infected with HIV/AIDS, syphilis and hepatitis, they will be deported to their country of origin,” Dr Jerip told The Borneo Post here yesterday.
He, however, said those found to be carriers of malaria and TB would be treated locally and segregated.
“We have to be on high alert as the cases of both malaria and TB have been on the rise. So we need the cooperation of everyone to ensure that the diseases could be contained and controlled,” he pointed out.
Dr Jerip also stressed that local employers must send their foreign workers for health screening on a yearly basis.
“As most of these foreign workers are employed in the plantations, many plantation owners have set up their own health facilities to provide healthcare for them. On top of that, they also provide basic healthcare services to the local community as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR),” said Dr Jerip.
On a related issue, Dr Jerip called for a multi-agency approach in tackling these deadly infectious diseases.
“To tackle deadly infectious diseases such as TB, Hepatitis B, AIDS and even malaria, there is a need for concerted efforts by all relevant agencies such as Health Department, Immigration Department, Police, Rela, the local elected representatives and the village development and security committees (JKKKs) to be involved and assist the government in tackling this menace.
“Everyone in our society must be involved in one way or another in addressing these deadly infectious diseases from getting out of control,” he said.
Most of the illegal workers are employed in plantations, construction industry, factories and some as housemaids.
Dr Jerip was commenting on news report that the Health Ministry now wanted annual health checks, which was previously mandatory, to be reinstated on foreign workers due to increasing number of them seeking treatment for chronic ailments.
It has been estimated that up to three per cent (60,000) of foreign workers in Malaysia could be medically unfit.
Presently, foreign workers are required to undergo medical check-ups (fomema) three times over a period of three years. Besides being screened first in their countries, it is compulsory for them to undergo a medical examination within a month upon arrival here.
They must then get another thorough health check before their annual permit can be renewed.
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Unemployed Bangladeshis could begin finding work in Malaysia as soon as early next month, the Bangladesh Minister for Expatriate Welfare and overseas employment said Wednesday after talks in Dhaka with his counterpart from Malaysia. “Very soon, Malaysia will start recruiting Bangladesh foreign workers for its construction, plantation and manufacturing sectors,” Minister Islam’s office said in a statement released Wednesday.
Following discussions on Tuesday with Richard Riot Anak Jaem, the Malaysian Human Resources Minister, Nurul Islam told reporters that flights carrying Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia could begin in the first week of December.
“Very soon, Malaysia will start recruiting Bangladesh workers for its construction, plantation and manufacturing sectors,” Minister Islam’s office said in a statement released Wednesday.
“The Malaysian minister said they will start recruiting workers from Bangladesh very soon and the Malaysian government is keen to recruit workers from Bangladesh.”
Islam did not discuss the number of Bangladeshis who would be able to find work in Malaysia’s plantation, construction and manufacturing sectors, and Riot returned to Malaysia on Wednesday following his two-day visit without talking to reporters.
When contacted in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday evening, Peter Dennis, Riot’s senior private secretary, declined comment, telling BenarNews that the minister would issue no statements about the meeting in Dhaka.
Number not known
No agreement was signed at this week’s meeting in the Bangladeshi capital, and it was unclear whether the latest talks were a follow-up to a memorandum of understanding signed by both countries in February. Initial reports then said that Kuala Lumpur had agreed to recruit as many as 1.5 million workers from Bangladesh over the next three years for jobs in its agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
But a day after the MoU was signed, Malaysia announced a moratorium on all new arrivals of migrant workers from Bangladesh and other countries. In May, Malaysian immigration officials said that they planned to ease the hiring freeze on foreign workers on condition that employers proved that these migrants were essential to their businesses, according to a report in Malay Mail Online.
About 300,000 Bangladeshis work in Malaysia, sending about 110 billion taka (U.S. $1.4 billion) back home every year, according to government figures.
News of the latest bilateral talks in Dhaka drew jobless people to Bangladesh’s Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training in the capital, as recruiting agencies began promising to find jobs for clients at a cost of 40,000 taka ($507) per head.
“We cannot figure out how many Bangladeshis will be able to go to Malaysia. The recruiting agencies will contact the Malaysian employers and send them, charging some 40,000 taka for each. But I think this is possible to send people [in] two weeks as our minister has stated,” Jahangir Alam, the information officer of the Expatriates’ Welfare Ministry, told BenarNews on Wednesday.
He said the government would be involved in the employment process so recruiting agencies could not exploit potential candidates.
Migrant advocates concerned
Meanwhile, migrant rights groups questioned the likelihood that Bangladeshis could be employed in Malaysia so soon.
“You see how the minister’s comment impacted the unemployed and poor youths: they have started visiting recruiting agents with money. Nobody knows how it is possible to get a job in Malaysia in less than two weeks,” Syed Saiful Haque, chairman of Warbe Development Foundation, a group that advocates migrants’ rights, told BenarNews on Wednesday.
He said corrupt middlemen already were luring poor and illiterate youths and their families with promises of jobs in Malaysia in exchange for payments.
“They are going to the brokers and the agents, as the government has not made any clear-cut statement on the procedure of going to Malaysia for jobs. The middlemen will exploit the situation. They will tell each of the workers that if they do not pay them more money immediately, he will not get the job. Thus many of the people will sell their land and other valuables to manage the money for the middlemen,” Haque said.
If you / your organisations are looking forward to recruit new Bangladesh Foreign Workers, you / your oganisations can start preparing document and submit your application to recruit new foreign workers now.
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On November 15, 2016, the Malaysian Human Resources Minister, Mr. Richard Riot Anak Jaem and his team have holds a meeting with Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Nurul Islam at his official in Dhaka. Malaysia Government will allow the Bangladesh foreign workers recruitment very soon. Malaysia is going to hire Bangladeshi workers in 3 sectors ie construction, plantation and manufacturing.
The Malaysian Minister revealed about the information after holding a bilateral meeting with Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Nurul Islam at his office in Dhaka today.
If you / your organisations are looking forward to recruit new Bangladesh Foreign Workers, you / your oganisations can start preparing document and submit your application to recruit new foreign workers now.
We are an established manpower recruitment agency located in Kuala Lumpur and can help you to solve your issuing in hiring foreign workers from Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Philippines and Vietnam. Kindly fill up the form below and we will contact you shortly.
It is eight o’clock in the industrial area of Port Klang, an hour’s drive west of Kuala Lumpur, and the entrance to the Samsung factory is heaving with workers. As hundreds of men and women foreign workers pour out of the factory gates into the clammy air, hundreds more file in to start the night shift.
Outside the factory gates, those who have finished their shift crouch on the pavement in the evening heat, their faces reflecting the glow of their mobile phones as they wait for the fleet of buses that will take them back to their accommodation. Among them is 18-year-old Aakash Bhandari, who sits slumped on the side of the road, exhausted after 12 hours on his feet.
Bhandari is just one of the 2,000 people working at this Samsung factory, a non-stop operation churning out microwave ovens sold to consumers across the world. There are an estimated 2.1 million documented migrant workers like Bhandari in Malaysia, many of them hired through third-party foreign worker supply companies who recruit labour workers from Nepal, Indonesia, India and Bangladesh to drive Malaysia’s industrial boom.
Bhandari is a long way from his village in the remote hills of western Nepal. Back home, a series of family tragedies and debt led him to drop out of school and look for work abroad. Malaysia is a notoriously dangerous place for migrant workers, but a recruitment agent in Nepal told him he’d be working for Samsung, one of the world’s biggest brands.
“[The agent in Nepal] told me it was a [Samsung] mobile phone factory where I would only have to pack mobiles … but I am making microwaves and it is very difficult,” says Bhandari.
Now he’s in Malaysia, Bhandari’s recruitment debt – and the 60% interest loan he took to pay it – has a stranglehold on the teenager.
“When you go to the recruitment agent, they promise a certain salary and assure you that you will be able to pay back your loan and earn money, but when you get here you find it’s impossible to pay the money back, even if you stay here for two years,” he says.
This debt is keeping him at the factory – that and the pressure to pay it back and send money home to his family, who have pinned all their prospects on his earning potential in Malaysia.
“In Kathmandu the agent told me, ‘If you don’t like the work we’ll change your company…’ That is why I came … [but now] he says I have to give him 20,000 rupees [£150] to change jobs.” This additional payment is impossible for him to afford.
Bhandari is not alone. A group of workers employed by the same labour supply company stop to talk to the Guardian before they start their night shifts. They also feel they have been duped and deceived by their labour supply company into taking on huge debts to come and work at the Samsung factory.
Some say the labour supply company had assured them they would receive £315 a month basic salary. However, when they were handed their contract shortly before leaving Nepal, it promised only £268 a month, including overtime.
Another man – 34-year-old Ram Bahadur – says he was ushered into a side room in the offices of his recruitment agency in Kathmandu just hours before he was due to leave for Malaysia and told he must pay a further £340 on top of the £870 he had already paid for his job.
“You’ve cheated us!” shouted a furious Bahadur. The agent calmly asked the men to put their hands up if they no longer wanted to go. No one did. “We had no money left,” says Bahadur. “How could we return to our homes empty-handed? So we had to go.”
The men say the only answer is to put in punishing hours of overtime in an attempt to boost their paychecks. 12- to 14-hour days are the norm in much of Malaysia’s electronics sector. A payslip seen by the Guardian shows Bhandari worked 29 out of 30 days in September, including 65 hours of overtime.
“The work is extremely difficult,” says another worker at the Samsung plant, Rabi Tamang. “You get only 45 minutes in a 12-hour shift to eat and seven minutes every two hours to drink water.”
The men say they can expect little help from their supervisors at the labour supply company either. “Old timers say if we speak up a lot, they will get someone to beat you up, or they will transfer you to a worse place,” says one man working at the Samsung plant.
Many of the group now want to leave, if only they could. They say their passports were all confiscated on arrival in the country, an illegal but pervasive practice, and they have been told they will have to pay £740 if they want to go – the equivalent of four months’ basic salary.
Bhandari does not know if the labour supply company will allow him to return to Nepal, but even if he could, it is not an option for him. “We have problems at home so either I’ll have to pay the agent to work for another company, or run away and find work illegally outside,” says the teenager. “I don’t have any other choice.”
Samsung officially bans suppliers from charging foreign workers recruitment fees or confiscating passports and, as a member of the Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) has also pledged to repay worker recruitment debt.
When asked whether Samsung had repaid any worker debts at the factory, one man employed directly by Samsung instead of through a labour supply company says he hasn’t received any compensation.
“Samsung doesn’t know how to give,” he says. “It only knows how to take.”
A Samsung statement said: “As a committed member of the Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC), we comply fully with the EICC’s Code of Conduct and have found no evidence of violations in the hiring process of migrant workers hired directly by our manufacturing facility in Malaysia. Once there is any complaint, we take swift actions to investigate.
“We are currently conducting on-site investigations of labour supply companies we work with in Malaysia and the migrant employees hired by these companies. If any violations are uncovered, we will make immediate corrective actions and moving forward we will suspend our business with companies that are found to be in violation.”
At least 50% equity in all businesses in Kuala Lumpur must be owned by Malaysians starting next year, said Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) executive director (Socio-Economic Development) Datuk Mohd Sauffi Muhamad.
He said businesses that failed to do so will have their business premises licence revoked.
A business owner raising her concerns during the dialogue.
“The Companies Commission of Malaysia currently allows businesses with only 1% of its equity held by Malaysians. We fear a situation where Malaysians will soon have to work for the foreigners.
“Besides that, we also want all businesses to have at least 50% Malaysian staff.
“These moves are to curb the monopolisation by foreigners in businesses, especially in critical areas including Jalan Tun Tan Siew Sin, Leboh Pudu, Bukit Bintang, Medan Pasar, Pusat Bandar Utara, Jalan Chow Kit, Leboh Ampang, Petaling Street, Kuala Lumpur Wholesale Market, Selayang Daily Market, Chow Kit Market, Pudu Market and Keramat Market
“It has come to a point for us to make a radical decision before the situation gets out of hand.
“I am not denying that it will be a difficult to adapt to the changes but I hope the local business community will support this initiative,” he said after a dialogue with the traders and hawkers in Menara DBKL on Nov 24.
Mohd Sauffi said since 2012 to October this year, DBKL enforcement unit had confiscated items from 23,553 foreign hawkers and 544 local hawkers’ licences were revoked for using foreign services during that period
“DBKL has never issued hawkers licence to foreigners and hawkers are strictly forbidden from hiring foreign helpers.
“As of October this year, DBKL has identified 7,400 foreigners working for Malaysian hawkers, who are now at risk of having their licences revoked.
“DBKL has formed a task force to engage the business community over the new licence conditions and educate them on what can and cannot be done.
“From Jan 1, we will go all out to enforce the new rulings,” he said.
Also present at the dialogue was Immigration Department enforcement director Datuk Jaafar Mohamed and DBKL Licensing and Petty Traders Management director Datuk Ibrahim Yusof.
Jaafar said there were two million registered foreign workers and based on his estimation, there were about 600,000 illegal foreign workers in Malaysia.
“In 2015 and 2014, a total of 245,000 and 179,000 illegal foreigners were sent back to their home countries, respectively.
“The high number of illegal foreign workers are also due to the locals hiring illegal foreign workers for the cheap labour and to avoid paying the required taxes.
“I hope the locals will stop hiring them and consider the social and economic implications,” he said.
“We have an agreement with Malaysia for the foreign workers recruitment. Now, we have discussed to expedite the process based on that agreement,” an additional secretary of the ministry told The Daily Star. Officials at the expatriates’ welfare ministry said both the governments are now in the final phase to start the recruitment of the workers soon.
Nurul Islam is scheduled to brief reporters about the developments of the recruitment tomorrow, they added.
Visiting Malaysian Human Resources Minister Richard Riot holds a meeting with Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Nurul Islam at his official in Dhaka on November 15, 2016.
“We have an agreement with Malaysia for the workers’ recruitment. Now, we have discussed to expedite the process based on that agreement,” an additional secretary of the ministry told The Daily Star.
The Malaysian government suspended the recruitment of foreign workers from all countries including Bangladesh on February 19 just a day after the two governments signed a memorandum of understanding in Dhaka.
But the ministry officials said the agreement with Malaysia was not suspended rather they were negotiating with the foreign labour receiving country on some key issues including recruitment process, migration costs and salaries.
After huge criticisms for an alleged syndicate by some selective Bangladeshi recruiting agents to dominate the Malaysian job market, the expatriates’ welfare ministry said it will not give any scope of forming any syndicate.
“We have discussed with the visiting Malaysian minister and informed him that they must include our 745 recruiting agents for the job otherwise the process will be hampered due to some selective agents,” said Minister Nurul Islam.
However, Ruhul Amin, secretary general of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira), told this correspondent that they are not aware of the Malaysian government’s decision yet.
Malaysia has been a popular destination for Bangladesh foreign workers over the last three decades but the recruitment process has always been tainted by malpractices that result in labour abuses.
Following massive irregularities during 2006 and 2008, Malaysia froze recruitment from Bangladesh in early 2009. In late 2012, the country began labour recruitment on a limited scale, but it did not work well allegedly for the influence of recruitment agents having vested interests in both the countries.
Currently, around three lakh Bangladeshis are working in different sectors in Malaysia legally while a good number of the Bangladeshis are also working without legal documents.
If you / your organisations are looking forward to recruit new Bangladesh Foreign Workers, you / your oganisations can start preparing document and submit your application to recruit new foreign workers now.
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Malaysia is leveraging on a government-to-government platform with Bangladesh to expedite new foreign worker hires from Bangladesh as the plantation, rubber glove manufacturing and furniture sectors are in dire need of foreign workers.
Malaysia is leveraging on a government-to-government platform with Bangladesh to expedite new hires as the plantation, rubber glove manufacturing and furniture sectors are in dire need of workers. “Last week, the Cabinet has directed Human Resources Minister Datuk Richard Riot Jaem to speed up the process of sourcing new hires from Bangladesh,” said Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong.
“Last week, the Cabinet has directed Human Resources Minister Datuk Richard Riot Jaem to speed up the process of sourcing new Bangladesh foreign worker hires,” said Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong.
“My ministry is coordinating with relevant authorities to ease this problem so that you can meet the export orders,” he said after officiating the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Furniture Industry Association (KLSFIA) 60th Anniversary and Merger Gala Dinner, here last Friday.
Mah also assured furniture manufacturers that his ministry is looking at new measures to facilitate adequate supply of rubberwood at competitive pricing.
Mah said he is liaising with the Ministry of International Trade and Industry to facilitate furniture manufacturers to exhibit at the soon-to-be-completed Malaysian International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC) that spans across one million sq ft.
In February, the Home Ministry reportedly suspended the recruitment of foreign workers, only to partially allow hiring of new foreign workers to four sectors including construction, services, manufacturing and furniture manufacturer in May.
To date, furniture manufacturers such as members of KLSFIA said they continue to face foreign labour shortage. They have repeatedly appealed to the government that the sudden policy change in the hiring of foreign workers was bad for business.
The Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association (Margma) have also said that disruption in new hire of foreign workers is jeopardising Malaysia’s position as the number one maker of medical and surgical gloves globally.
Last year, Malaysia’s 106 medical glove-making factories churned out some 120 billion pieces for exports and this brought in RM13.1 billion.
“As global demand for medical gloves expands, we need more workers; it is our fervent hope the government ensure availability of new foreign worker hire,” Margma president Denis Low Jau Foo reportedly said.
“We are duly worried by not being able to meet global demand for this medical device. There is an element of humanity here as the medical gloves we make are a necessity for doctors to save lives,” Low added.
According to data provided by the Statistics Department, the manufacturing sector contributed RM626 billion last year, thus making it a key economic driver, which also accounted for half of Malaysia’s RM1.16 trillion economy and more than 80 per cent of RM780 billion total exports.
Separately, the Sarawak Oil Palm Plantation Owners Association (SOPPOA) reiterated its members continue to face acute shortage of workers and they are experiencing huge losses.
Currently, Sarawak has 1.4 million hectares planted with oil palms. According to the Labour-Land Ratio of one man to 8ha, SOPPOA members require 175,000 workers.
But data from Malaysian Palm Oil Board and the Sarawak Labour Department reveal only 108,000 workers are employed in the Sarawak plantation industry, comprised of 86,000 foreign workers and 22,000 locals.
“We face shortfall of over 67,000 workers. Loss of fruits left unharvested leads to billions in revenue losses to estates and the government in terms of taxes collection,” it said in a statement last Friday.
If new hire of foreign worrkes continues to be disrupted and lacking, SOPPOA regretfully expressed Sarawak’s palm oil industry may not be able to meet the government’s target growth of 8 per cent per annum to achieve 2 million hectares of planted area by 2020.
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Malaysia employers of foreign workers can pay their workers’ health examination fees online via the Foreign Workers Medical Examination Monitoring Agency (Fomema) employers’ portal from today.
Its chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Hatar Ismail said the facility was introduced to enable employers conduct their businesses faster and more efficiently via the portal at https://portal.fomema.my/.
“We no longer have to use a scanner to scan related documents as conducted during the conventional registration process at Fomema branches, with the internet facility.
“All employers have to do is to open an account for user identity and password and register their foreign workers online via Financial Process Exchange (FPX), namely, a payment channel provided for 15 participating banks,” he said in a statement here today.
He said the existing registration method at all Fomema branches was still being continued to accommodate those employers who did not have internet facility.
Number not known
