Levy On Foreign Workers To Go Up In Early 2011 - Muhyiddin

PUTRAJAYA, May 20 (Bernama) -- The government plans to increase the levy on foreign workers according to the job sectors from early next year in a bid to reduce the country's dependence on foreign labour.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the levy would defer according to the foreign workers' skills level and the number of workers in a sector.

"We will study it (levy) according to the job sectors such as manufacturing, construction, services, plantation and agriculture. This means the levy will defer according to the job sectors and the more workers there are in a particular sector, the higher the levy may be.

"Another factor is qualification. If they are skilled workers, the levy may not be high but if they are unskilled or just ordinary workers, then the employers may have to pay a higher levy."

Muhyiddin said this after chairing the third meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Illegal Workers on Thursday.

Also present were Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and Human Resource Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam

Muhyiddin said Hishammuddin was given two weeks to study the proposed increase of levy on foreign workers, which was among 50 proposals submitted by the Laboratory on Managing Foreign Workers.

"If the levy is to be increased, it can only be enforced by early 2011 as we need a bit more time to study the matter."

Muhyiddin said the government also planned to impose a bond on employers to make them more responsible towards their workers.

He said the bond payment had been implemented in a number of countries like Singapore for the purpose of monitoring the entry of foreign visitors and workers into these countries.

"The bond is a guarantee for employers to be responsible when their workers run away, stop work and so forth. We have not decided on this but I have asked that this be studied.

"We are prepared to obtain input including from employers' associations on whether this bond should be imposed on employers," he said.

Muhyiddin said the government also proposed to grant amnesty to illegal foreign workers after the biometric identification system had been finetuned.

"This system is to ensure that the entry of each foreign worker or visitor into Malaysia is recorded.

"It is up to the Home Ministry and Immigration Department to decide on how early the biometric system can be implemented, so that the amnesty process can proceed.

"After the 'cleansing' period ends, we will take stern action against employers who flout the law such as by hiring foreign workers without permits."

On another note, Muhyiddin said today's meeting focused on three main aspects from the 50 proposals put forward by the Laboratory on Managing Foreign Workers. They are the demand and supply of foreign workers, the system and process of hiring foreign workers, and law and enforcement.

He said from these three aspects, there were six Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in tackling the foreign labour and illegal foreign worker issues in the long term.

These comprise reduced number of illegals, increased number of errant employers brought to book, increased revenue of the Immigration Department, reduced cost borne by the government, and decline in crime involving foreign workers.

The deputy prime minister said the government's stand was to reduce the number of foreign workers in stages in the long term.