THE Human Resource Ministry plans to revive the Malaysian Overseas Employment Management Centre to tackle exploitation of Malaysian workers overseas and has also proposed to amend certain outdated laws.

Minister M. Kulasegaran said this is to ensure that Malaysian employees get reasonable salaries, protection and other ancillary benefits.

“We had that many moons ago. However, it was not implemented effectively because we never had the officials to run it, so it went down. 

“We are thinking of whether to revive that agency so that our employees can be more well informed before they go anywhere in the world.” he said after chairing the National Labour Activity Council (NLAC) in Putrajaya today.

Expressing concern over the 47 Malaysians who were detained in Cambodia,  Kulasegaran said the matter could have been avoided if proper checks were done.

Kulasegaran said the ministry is also looking to implement a Social Compliance Audit Report System, which will be a check and balance to companies without the interference of government officers.

This came about after the ministry found current enforcement measures lacking in effectiveness. 

“We are looking at a new system because that will have more transparency and accountability. It will be an (online) system where employers report directly the running of their department without the interference of government officers,” he said.

There are also plans to amend acts that are “outdated”, including the Trade Unions Act 1959. 

This will be done after taking into consideration the views of the International Labour Organisation and the World Bank.

He added that the government is considering heeding calls to reduce the number of expatriates. 

“According to Talent Corp, now we have 117,000 expatriates working in different categories in Malaysia. There is a call that we reduce the number of expatriates that is coming into this country, especially the lower-end expatriates. That will be considered by the government.”

He said the government is looking to expand the coverage of the Human Resource Development Fund to enable more employees to benefit from the reskiling and upskilling programmes. – February 21, 2019.