KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will sign new and improved Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) for labour supply with Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran said Malaysia had already signed the first phase of a similar MoU with Nepal on Oct 29 to address human trafficking issues and exploitation of migrant workers.
He said under the new agreement with Nepal, recruitment fees, two way flight tickets, visas, health checks, levies would be borne by employers as per the International Labour Organisation conditions.
“The MoUs with the other countries have almost expired so we are entering a new phase (agreement) which will be (modeled on the MoU with Nepal and) inked with the source countries.
“We hope that these new standard elements can be incorporated in our MoUs with Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia. At this moment, we have already been in discussion with them.
“The next country in the negotiation cycle will be the Philippines to ensure that the same aims are highlighted,” he said after the opening of the Asean Labour Ministers’ Meeting here today.
He said Malaysia had downgraded to Tier 2-Watch List in the 2018 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report by the US State Department.
Tier 2 Watchlist Countries are governments that do not fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to achieve them, and faced, among others, the increasing number of human trafficking victims.
Kulasegaran said a further slide on the list would cause Malaysia to be subjected to international sanctions.
“Foreign countries and investors will not be allowed to invest in Malaysia if we continuously dip and this is more alarming than other issues (highlighted by employers),” he said.
He was commenting on grouses by the Malaysian Employers’ Federation that such MoUs would cause an increase in operating expenditure and increase the price of goods and services available in the market.
Kulasegaran said the ministry was also looking at the possibility of following the footsteps of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong in coming up with policies on migrant labour.
He said their policies among others dictate that the workers must leave to their home countries after the expiration of their permits.
He said despite clear regulation and laws on the matter, Malaysia had been facing various problems including foreign workers who had overstayed, forcing enforcement agencies to carry out operations to curb this.