A TOTAL of 179,451 applications to hire foreign workers in five sectors will be processed and approved within six weeks, according to Human Resource Minister M. Saravanan. 

He said of the total, 24,560 applications will complete the interview stage on April 27 while 154,891 applications will be approved in the period of six weeks.

The five sectors are construction, agriculture, plantation, manufacturing and services, he added.

“As of April 7, the ministry has received a total of 519,937 applications to hire foreign workers since February 15, of which over 50% or 290,939 applications have yet to be submitted by 2,578 employers who applied. 

“A total of 40,000 applications were rejected for not meeting the requirements, were incomplete or applications to hire foreign workers in sectors that are still being frozen such as scrap metal, gold shops, clothing shops and barber shops,” he told reporters at Wisma HRD Corp in Kuala Lumpur today. 

Saravanan said no applications were handled manually as all applications were implemented online and without intervention from ministers. 

On the recruitment of Indonesian maids, he explained around 10,000 domestic workers will be brought into the country after Hari Raya Aidilfitri. 

He said their starting salary is RM1,200, adding that it is up to employers if they wish to pay maids up to RM1,500 per month following the implementation of the new minimum wage starting May 1. 

He said the move to hire Indonesian maids is in line with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for the recruitment and protection of Indonesian domestic workers between Malaysia and Indonesia in Jakarta, recently. 

The government would discuss with Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh to bring in domestic workers from those countries, he added. 

Meanwhile, Saravanan said he would also submit a request to the Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin to reconsider the reopening of several sectors that froze foreign worker recruitment due to security factors. 

He also gave his assurance that all foreign workers are required to undergo induction courses before working in Malaysia to ensure they were exposed to labour and workers’ rights to avoid being oppressed or abused by employers. – Bernama, April 12, 2022.