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The Edge

By Adam Aziz
More employers will agree to the levy payment for their foreign workers under the Employer Mandatory Commitment (EMC) if the government proves to be just as committed to improving the foreign labour ecosystem, says the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM).
The key message from employers, according to a survey by FMM among its members, is that both the private and government sectors have a role to play in managing and improving the foreign workers ecosystem, said FMM president Tan Sri Lim Wee Chai.
“Some employers agree [to the EMC], but asked for the government [to show its] commitment too,” Lim said. For one, the government can make the process of applying for a foreign worker more efficient, he said. “Companies cannot take months just to get one worker.”
“We also don’t want middlemen to source for our foreign workers in order for the process to be transparent. Every road block will give the industry problems,” he told reporters after releasing the results of FMM’s Business Conditions Survey 2016.
FMM Selangor branch chairman Datuk Soh Thian Lai said the government should centralise and automate the application process. “We suggested the establishment of a one-stop foreign worker application centre to the government. Processes such as electronic application is also transparent and can prevent corruption.”
Soh also urged the government to improve the management of illegal foreign workers. “There are over two million illegal foreign workers in Malaysia. Enforcement is important. The government must send them back quickly.”

In the survey undertaken by the FMM and the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER), 71.9 per cent of the 370 respondents disagreed to the EMC.
Presently, 45 per cent of foreign workers in the country pay the levy themselves, compared to 17 per cent who had their employers pay it, and another 17 per cent who shared the burden with their employers, said FMM.
Last year, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced that employers would no longer be able to deduct the wages of their foreign workers for the levy, from January 1, and that employers would have to fork out the levy payment under EMC.
But following an uproar among employers to the new ruling, the EMC implementation has been postponed to Jan 1 next year. FMM, said its immediate past president Tan Sri Saw Choo Boon, is in the midst of talking to the government to postpone the EMC till 2019.
“We want to get a win-win solution, as any policy mistakes made now can [have] huge [repercussions]. Like this [EMC] levy, it will cost the country up to RM5 billion (US$1.12) in outflow per year, contradicting the central bank’s export ruling [to boost the ringgit],” Saw said.
Lim said the government’s tendency to conduct “overnight changes” in policies, such as the abrupt EMC introduction and Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) new rule for exporters to convert 75 per cent of foreign returns to the ringgit, is a “bad move” as it will offset business plans.
“Policies must focus on efficiency and quality. Don’t change policies simply for short-term gains that will only benefit certain sectors. It will affect many investors,” he said.
‘Improve management of foreign workers first’


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The Kuala Lumpur skyline .Photo: MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP

Photo: The Edge

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Employers want government to show commitment with measures like making applications for foreign workers more efficient
