KUALA LUMPUR: It is impossible for employers to recruit foreign workers without third-party agents as direct recruitment is unlawful in source countries, employment associations say.
They said employers who directly recruit foreign nationals in their countries could also be jailed and charged with human trafficking.
Association of Employment Agencies Malaysia vice president Suresh Tan said employers or agencies who directly employ migrant workers were subjected to recruitment through third-party agents.
He said it was the requirements of the law in all Malaysia's source countries (Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, India, Indonesia).
"It's a standard law. We (Malaysia) too have that law. That is why we have recruitment licence agencies here licensed by our government.
"But unfortunately, foreign companies can just advertise and recruit our people directly without going through local agencies and some of them are exposed to job scams," he said.
He added that local agencies would also need to seek the services of foreign agents as they were not licensed to recruit at source countries directly.
"For example, in Indonesia, it's compulsory for employers to go through recruitment agents otherwise they won't sign the job order because they put responsibility on recruitment agents should anything happen.
"We must go through foreign agents. If not, we can be charged under human trafficking," he said.
Suresh said this in response to Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar's statement last week that the government was looking at the best mechanism for employers to hire foreign workers without using an agency.
Sivakumar said efforts were being made to ensure no third parties were profiting from the hiring of foreign workers and Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail had already gone to Nepal, Indonesia and Bangladesh to discuss this matter.
On Jan 26, the National Association of Private Employment Agencies Malaysia (Papsma) had earlier claimed that some of these agencies had "monopolised" the recruitment process with the help of syndicates from the source countries.
Suresh called for the Prime Minister and Human Resources Minister to call for an engagement session with industry experts to iron out issues regarding foreign workers employment.
Echoing his stand, the National Association of Human Resources Malaysia president Zarina Ismail said that each source country had outlined their own procedures and local employers should respect the laws to maintain Malaysia's reputation.
"Though we are enthusiastic about recruiting more foreign workers, we also have to respect the laws in our source countries.
"Don't go to the countries and freely recruit their nationals. You'll get locked up," she said.
On a separate note, Zarina also called for employers to report unscrupulous local agents who charge exorbitant fees for the recruitment of foreign workers to the Labour Office.
"When they report, we would be able to pinpoint the source of the problem and we would know which agencies are charging sky high prices.
"We would know whether they are licensed or unlicensed," she said.
She added that licensed recruitment agencies had to pay about RM200,000 security bond to the Human Resource Ministry to operate in the country.
The security bond will be liquidised should the agencies do anything that is against the law or if there were any issues with the foreign workers.
"Since we have to pay a security bond to the ministry, licensed agencies don't dare to charge exorbitant fees to employers.
"If the government said the maximum fee for an Indonesian domestic worker is RM15,000, then we will try our best to follow it," she said.
Zarina said there were more than 1,000 licensed recruitment agencies in Malaysia and employers had the freedom to choose whichever ag