Malaysian govt will cancel employers' quota if migrant workers' salaries are cut

Malaysian government will cancel the quotas given to employers who cut migrant workers' salaries to cover costs of bringing them into in the country, Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri M Saravanan said.

He said employers who bring migrant workers must bear all the costs including accommodation and airfare so that they can enter Malaysia with zero cost.

The minister made the remarks at a press conference today (June 3, 2022) after retuning to the country from Bangladesh. He attended a meeting of Bangladesh-Malaysia Joint Working Group in Dhaka held yesterday (June 2, 2022).

He, however, said the ministry cannot interfere in any matter related to the agents of the workers in their own country.

"…If there were complaints filed by the workers against employers through the digital application Working for Workers, we will revoke their quotas," he said.

Saravanan denied reports on protest by employment agencies in Bangladesh during the Bangladesh-Malaysia Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting in Dhaka yesterday.

He said he was welcomed and had a fruitful discussion on the entry of Bangladeshi workers into Malaysia.

"I met with eight Bangladeshi ministers including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. In principle, we agreed to bring in Bangladeshi workers for several sectors such as plantation, agriculture, manufacturing and development," he said.

He also met his Bangladeshi counterpart Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed at the JWG meeting.

Yesterday, the media reported that Bangladesh Association of International Recruitment Agencies (BAIRA) held a protest against Malaysia's stance for allowing only 25 Bangladeshi recruitment agents.

The minister said Malaysia would still follow their decision of allowing only 25 agents to hire migrant workers in the country and the ministry will form a committee to scrutinise 1,520 applications of Bangladeshi agents.