KUCHING: Minister Datuk Zuraidah Kamaruddin welcomes the agreement made by the Indonesian government to allow its workers into Malaysia, effective Aug 1.
She added that, however in order to simplify the process of hiring foreign workers, the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities (MPIC) acknowledged that the process must be complete and efficient.
“Hence, we are all looking forward to the coordination process to be gradually switched to a fully-digitalised platform without any human interference possible.”
She said if foreign workers were not brought into the country immediately, the plantation sector could potentially be incurring losses of RM21 bln in 2021 and a further RM28 bln this year.
“For a long-term solution, MPIC encourages farm owners to provide retraining and skills improvement among local workers, in addition to practicing good labour management, which is important to keep foreign workers employed.”
She added that a good labour force management policy would prevent foreign workers from absconding.
“It will also enable employers to circumvent the risk of forced labour and human trafficking which can ultimately be disruptive to their export business in the long run.”
She explained that the ministry would not compromise on issues related to forced labour in the country and Malaysia would continue to comply with the guidelines set in the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
“In fact, MPIC will continue to support the National Action Plan on Forced Labour (NAPFL) which was developed in an effort to address and eradicate the issue of forced labour in the country.”
