PUTRAJAYA’S labour recalibration programme for undocumented migrant workers, a rehiring and voluntary deportation scheme, has failed to address the issue of labour shortage, industry groups said.

Manpower shortage will persist in factories unless new measures are introduced to prevent job-hopping by foreign workers, said Malaysian Furniture Council president Khoo Yeow Chong.

Many foreign workers have been changing jobs as Covid lockdowns have caused factory closures, Khoo said.

Workers also switch jobs when a competitor offers just a couple of hundred ringgit more than the RM1,200 paid by the original employer, he said.

These offers also attract workers who enter the country illegally, he added.

It is also unfair to the original employer who would have paid taxes and fees when he hired the foreign worker legally, Khoo said.

Legal migrant workers can become undocumented when their permits lapse, and renewals have been made difficult because of the lockdowns.

The recalibration programme, launched at the end of last year until June, and extended until December this year, is a chance for employers to “legalise” them, or for the workers to opt to return home.

As such, Khoo said the ongoing recalibration plan would have been a good chance to come up with a comprehensive “once-and-for-all policy” and to strictly implement it.

“Since these workers are already in Malaysia and Putrajaya has their fingerprint records from when they entered the country, the government should be able to identify them and impose rules to prevent job-hopping.

“This can help stop the problem of illegal foreign workers in Malaysia.

“Otherwise, recalibration exercises like this will be a repetition while never solving the problem,” Khoo said.

SME Association of Malaysia president Michael Kang said there is also a problem with renewing the work permit of legal foreign workers, increasing the number of undocumented workers.

Procedures and requirements under the recalibration programme are confusing and have not been properly explained, he said, adding there seems to be no officer responsible for handling queries from industry heads and companies.

“Many (employers) have come to ask me (about the procedures) as no one knows how to go about doing it. The Immigration office has not opened (physically).

“The government has yet to explain clearly how we should do it,” Kang said.

To make things simpler and ensure labour supply, Beruas MP Ngeh Koo Ham said all foreign workers already in the country and who had jobs previously should be automatically approved for rehiring, unless they volunteer to return home.

The automatic approval, however, should only be for those who do not have criminal records and who have no physical ailments.

Proper strategy for local labour

SME Association of Malaysia’s Kang said it is also time Putrajaya has a proper plan to develop local labour as part of its long-term policy of reducing the country’s heavy reliance on foreign labour.

The government should first ensure that there really are locals who can fill the jobs foreign workers have been doing in all types of sectors.

If the government cannot find substitutes, then more and more foreign workers will end up staying, Kang said.

“The government needs to find out what factories need. If a factory is short of 30,000 people, then provide 30,000 people. But the government can’t do this.”

These issues will be raised at the next meeting of the National Employment Council, Kang added.

“Will the government provide appropriate training for locals if, say, a factory needs 3,000 people? Can the government do this?

“If the government is determined to expel all foreign workers, it must ensure that it can deliver one local worker for every foreign worker sent home,” Kang said.

Cracking down on factories and companies that employ undocumented foreign labour won’t solve the problem, he added.

“It will just drive investment funds to neighbouring countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam.” – September 21, 2021.