KL asks each govt to control their labor

V.K. Chin, The Star, Asia News Network,

The participation of governments whose citizens are keen to work in Malaysia is a logical step to take in the effort to control and streamline the number of foreign workers in the country. So far, the recruitment of such workers has always been left entirely to the private sector and this has led to numerous problems, the main one being repatriation.

However, with the situation becoming more serious, Kuala Lumpur has decided to enlist the assistance of other governments in this exercise. It is now up to the foreign states involved to come forward if they are really keen to get their nationals to work in this country.

While the foreign workers may be employed in the private sector, the government or its enforcement and regulatory agencies will have to be involved when problems relating to security, immigration and even health, arise. The government has been having a rough time when it comes to repatriating workers who have breached local laws but who do not possess proper legal documents. This has made it quite difficult to identify them and some embassies have even denied that some of these illegal immigrants are their citizens, leaving it to the Malaysian authorities to resolve it.

Once these foreign governments are involved, they could no longer claim in future that they have nothing to do with the recruitment and so unable to offer any help in their repatriation. They will now be committed and no longer plead ignorance as an excuse.

This new routine may be the best formula to handle this thorny, time-consuming and expensive issue regarding such foreigners. Malaysia needs all the help it can get and hopefully, the foreign governments involved will not be found wanting.

This is actually a good chance for the foreign governments to play a more active role in seeking employment for their citizens as many are facing serious economic and financial trouble.

Malaysia's latest policy on foreign workers will enable governments interested to make some headway in placing some of their excess labor in this country. Previously, it was not easy to do so due to the preference given to the Indonesians.

The advantages of government-to-government agreement are mainly on the protection of such migrant workers. Their welfare and interest will be better looked after and their embassy staff will have to be more active in their affairs.

These governments too will have to ensure that the labor they supply have the relevant documents, that their health are good and that they will behave and not start any trouble when abroad.

In fact, the number of workers from each country should also to a certain degree depend on the level of cooperation of their respective governments. If foreign officials are genuine in resolving the problems created by their citizens, then more of them should be given employment passes.