The Prime Minister must immediately call on the Human Resource Minister and the Home Minister to explain why the recalibration/legalisation of illegal foreign workers exercise has not been functioning since 1st July 2021 and not wait for their 100 days’ report card. The Prime Minister must also investigate if the Home Minister has lied in Parliament when he said the system is functioning well and 300,000 have applied and received approval.
I have received a written parliamentary answer confirming that the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS) website https://fwcms.com.my which was announced by the government to be the website be used for the application of the recalibration/legalising of illegal foreign workers commencing 1st July 2021 is in fact not functioning. No clarification was made to the public and those who sought to use the website were frustrated and had brought their grievances to me.
In Parliament, when I sought clarification from the Home Minister, Dato’ Seri Hamzah bin Zainuddin, he could only vaguely say the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System is in use but he added that since the Recalibration Program is an initiative of the Human Resources Ministry, the Human Resource Ministry is using its system and integrated it with MyIMMs System of the Immigration Department of the Home Ministry.
When I pressed him for the clear steps that need to be taken in the application, he brushed me aside and said so far 300,000 have applied and received approval.
I have sent a representative on 29th September 2021 to the Immigration Office at Putrajaya to check how the application is to be done. He was told to apply through the Sistem Pengurusan Pekerja Asing Bersepadu website https://www.eppax.gov.my. However, when we tried to make an application through this website, we receive a response is that this website is under maintenance.
Palm Oil Association of Malaysia estimates our oil palm industry will lose about RM20.0 billion and our government a sum of about RM2.0 billion in taxes this year due to lack of workers.
More importantly, illegal foreign workers are often victimised and they do not dare to seek medical treatment when they are injured or sick for fear of being arrested by the authorities. It is inhumane to cause fellow human beings to live in such vulnerable state and in constant fear. Our nation’s image will be badly damaged should their sufferings and deaths caused by their fear of getting medical treatments be reported in their respective home countries or internationally. Our government also loses hundreds of millions of ringgit of levy, a tax the applicants are more than glad to pay.
I do not believe the answer given by the Home Minister in Parliament that the system is working well and that 300,000 approvals have been given as we have found out that the system is not functioning. If such a large number of applications have been approved, there would not have been so many complaints concerning the application for Recalibration/ legalisation of illegal foreign workers.
I call on the Prime Minister to immediately call on the Home Minister and Human Resource Minister, Datuk Seri Saravanan Murugan and not wait for their 100 days’ report card, to explain why the recalibration/legalisation of foreign workers exercise is not functioning and if the Home Minister’s reply that 300,000 applications have been approved is true.
Dato’ Ngeh Koo Ham
Member of Parliament for Beruas
