Govt looking to improve legislation to combat foreign worker exploitation
Published on: Tuesday, January 09, 2024
By:
FMT, Faiz Zainudin
Home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said he will discuss the issue of employers bringing in workers without providing them with jobs with the human resources minister.
PUTRAJAYA: The home ministry and human resources ministry intend to examine new regulations and improve existing legislation to address the issue of foreign workers being exploited after legally entering the country.
Home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the issue would top the agenda during a Jan 16 meeting with human resources minister Steven Sim.
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“We will focus on the issue of employers bringing in workers without providing them with jobs, and employers failing to comply with established regulations and existing laws under the Immigration Act 1959/63 and other labour-related laws,” he said at a press conference here.
The issue of foreign workers being brought to Malaysia without having jobs ready for them was recently highlighted when 171 Bangladeshis were nabbed in Johor after marching to a police station to lodge a report against their agents, whom they claimed failed to secure jobs for them as promised.
Separately, Saifuddin said his ministry was drafting a bill with the Attorney-General’s Chambers for the establishment of a single agency for national border control (SBA).
He said the proposed bill would be tabled in Parliament in the first quarter of this year.
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“The Cabinet has just approved the proposal to draft the bill for the purpose of establishing a new entity, the SBA, which will adopt a single name and subsequently operate as a new border control agency,” he said.
Previously, Saifuddin was reported as saying that the SBA, an initiative planned since 2018, aimed to consolidate over 20 enforcement agencies at 141 entry points, including immigration, the Malaysian quarantine and inspection services department, and customs.
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