A ROYAL commission of inquiry (RCI) into the migrant worker recruitment system is very much needed as there have been countless abuse and corruption cases over the years, activists said.

They told The Malaysian Insight that it is high time the government set up the commission to probe into the corrupt practices and abuses that have not been dealt with by the authorities.

Their call comes in support of a coalition of labour unions that urged for reforms to protect worker rights, including the setting up of an RCI.

The Labour Law Reform Coalition, which consists of 58 trade unions, said on Sunday that an RCI should be set up to investigate purported corrupt practices in the migrant worker centralised management system.

Parti Sosialis Malaysia migrant desk chief Rani Kumar said there are many problems in the recruitment system to which the government has not paid attention.

She said the problems must also be looked at holistically.

“There are so many cases of abuses of power in the recruitment system and because of one case, it generates more bad practices,” she said.

“Certain people are making money, a lot of money from bringing in workers without following the process or the demand.”

She said for many years, the problem has not been addressed, causing rampant corruption in the system.

“There is no political will to begin with. The higher-ups are corrupted and those below have no choice but to follow the practice,” she said.

“It was never addressed. Only recently we heard about the arrests of several people who allegedly misuse their position to secure illegal gains.

“With the arrests, it is high time the government set up an RCI.”

Last month, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) arrested two aides of Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar – his special functions officer and private secretary – as well as a migrant worker recruitment agent in an ongoing probe into labour recruitment.

The trio have since been released.

MACC has also widened its investigation to include senior officials and heads of agency under the ministry.

The investigation is centred on claims that those involved had set up the recruitment agency to obtain approval from the ministry despite conflict of interest.

Classified confidential

North-South Initiative executive director Adrian Pereira said an RCI is important as there have been reports of irregular practices discovered by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

He also noted that the matter had been classified under the Official Secrets Act by the government.

“The auditor-general’s report probed by the PAC after it came out in November 2020 showed that there were many irregularities,” he said.

“Systemic abuses that have not been told to the public. We need the RCI to know what has been going on.

“With the RCI, we can get the answers to all the difficult questions.”

Pereira said labour groups will continue to demand for an RCI to be set up.

“We will continue to remain at Tier 3 of the US’ trafficking in persons report if we do not do something to address this matter,” he said.

In the 2022 US report, Malaysia remained at Tier 3, with US authorities saying Putrajaya failed to fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and was not making significant efforts to do so.

However, the US State Department said Putrajaya had taken “some steps” to address the issue of trafficking, such as amending the anti-trafficking law and the Employment Act to include a wider definition of forced labour.

It said Malaysia had also convicted more traffickers than during the previous reporting period and issued more freedom of movement passes for identified victims in government-funded shelters, in addition to adopting a five-year national action plan against forced labour.

Malaysia has been in Tier 3 since 2021. It was on the Tier 2 watch list from 2018 to 2020, although it was in Tier 2 in 2017.

Prior to that, it was also on the Tier 2 watch list from 2015 to 2016.

The 2022 report said as in previous years, the Malaysian government did not adequately address or criminally pursue credible allegations from multiple sources alleging labour trafficking in the rubber and oil palm sectors. – May 2, 2023.