KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Employers Federation and and a migrant rights activist are against a suggestion to issue compound fines of RM30,000 to employers who bring in foreign workers but fail to give them jobs.
Instead, they said, the government should consider transferring the foreign workers' quota to another field in dire need of labour forces.
MEF president Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Syed Husman said having a voluntary conversion mechanism will help to address shortages in labour faced by certain sectors in the country.
Adopting such a system, he said, was better than repatriating the migrant workers since they are already in the country.
"Since the foreign workers are already here, mechanisms could be put in place to obtain voluntary agreement from the workers involved to work in some other sectors," he said.
Syed Hussain suggested that if the first employer bears the cost incurred by bringing in foreign workers, then that shall be compensated by the second employer.
Migrant rights activist Adrian Pereira concurred with MEF when he said that the country should move away from implementing a system similar to that of the Kafala system and instead consider adopting flexibility of labour, which is guided by a competent evaluating body, in the management of migrant workers.
The North-South Initiative co-founder and executive director said there should be a fair and reasonable amount of flexibility for workers to change sector and employer.
"Malaysia practices a system where the permit (of the migrant worker) is tied to one employer (sector). That is tantamount to the Kafala system, like what Qatar used to practice and now has abolished.
"I think labour should not be tied to any (a certain) sector or employer. There should be a fair reasonable amount of flexibility for workers to change employer.
"We should have flexibility in labour, whose implementation mechanism is guided by a competent evaluating body. There should be control mechanisms to implement this so that the change in sector could be implemented in a reasonable manner," he said.
Earlier, Plantations and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani had proposed that companies be fined up to RM30,000 for each foreign worker brought in who is not employed after a month.
He said strict punishment would force companies to reconsider bringing in workers if they could not guarantee employment.
Such actions, he said, also caused crucial industries to suffer due to the lack of workers, such as in palm oil and rubber plantations.
Syed Hussain said there was a need, instead, to understand the ups and downs of businesses, especially in the face of uncertainty of volatile market conditions arising from the prolonged Ukraine-Russia, Palestine-Israel conflicts, and potential reemergence of Covid-19.
"The market appeared to have recovered when the employers got approvals to bring in foreign workers. Things may have changed and impacted their ability to provide employment," he said.
Citing "Immigration rules", Syed Hussain said employers have 18 months to bring in the workers from the date of approval. Failure to do so may lead to forfeiture of levy paid by employers.
"MEF is of the view that better mechanisms need to be looked at to assist employers in difficulties rather than taking the simple way out of penalising them RM30,000 per headcount for failure to provide work within 30 days from date of arrival.
"Putting a penalty will not assist companies already in financial difficulties. Such a move should be avoided," he said.
Pereira, meanwhile, said impossing stricter fines against errant companies would not necessarily resolve the issues related to the management of migrant workers in the country.
He instead proposed the setting of a task force to investigate the "whole mess" and subsequently resolve the issue.
"We are really not sure if enforcing a higher fine is the way forward. From our experience, the more (higher) the fines, (the more) it opens up doors
of corruption.
"The focus should be on finding and arresting the mastermind, who is actually approving the quotas that have allowed the workers to be brought in.
"Before a migrant worker is brought into the country, there is a whole chain and series of approvals and technical submissions needed.
"Therefore, I am not sure if a fine would nip this systemic problem in the bud. It should be a task force to investigate this whole mess," he said.