Malaysia is one of Asia's biggest employers of foreign labour. But recently, cases of deaths, abuse and forced labour have come to light. What is going on? Who is protecting these migrant workers?
Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Dr Fong Chan Onn said the online certificates
will be issued to those who passed the assessment tests after undergoing induction
courses at the training centres in the countries from which the workers came.
<p>The online certificates was also accessible to the Malaysian embassies in source
countries as well as the Immigration Department here to ensure only those with
the certificates should be issued with visa and work permit. </p>
<p>“Even the training centres in the source countries will be able to access
the information online to ensure that all workers issued the certificates have
undergone the induction courses,” he said. </p>
<p>Issuing the certificates online also saved time, he said, adding that normally
issuing the certificates manually took over two weeks. </p>
<p>The induction course is to familiarise foreigners with the Malaysian language
and lifestyle, its laws, as well as to inform them of their rights as workers
for matters such as overtime and holiday and hours of work per day. </p>
<p>Countries where training centres have been set up to run induction courses
are Indonesia, Nepal, India and Vietnam, he said, adding that the duration for
the courses in each country varied depending on how much the workers there knew
about Malaysia. </p>
<p>“In Vietnam the course runs for six weeks while in both India and Nepal
it is for three weeks and for Indonesians the course is only for half a day
as they are more familiar with our language and need little training,”
he said. </p>
<p>Dr Fong was speaking to reporters after receiving Vietnam’s Deputy Minister
of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Huynh Thi Nhan, who paid a courtesy call
with nine delegates to the ministry here on Thursday. </p>
<p>He added that the ministry has also printed booklets providing information
on Malaysia and its laws in the languages of the source countries as guide for
the workers when they enter the country. </p>
<p>Nepalese formed the second largest number of foreign labour in the country
with 250,000 people after Indonesia. </p>
<p>Indians and Vietnamese come in third and fourth respectively with 130,000 and
100,000 people, said Dr Fong, adding that 90% of Vietnamese worked in the manufacturing
sector. </p>
<p>“Despite earlier problems of violence involving some Vietnamese workers,
things are looking better now and employers preferred them as they are very
hardworking and dedicated,” he said.
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