KUALA LUMPUR: Employers want to apply for foreign workers themselves, but are often being given the run-around by the authorities. Many eventually give up, said Malaysian Employers Federation executive director Shamsuddin Bardan.
"They always claim not enough particulars are submitted or the forms are not right or some obscure requirement has not been adhered to. It's very frustrating for employers to deal with the authorities. They must be prepared to be tossed around like a ball."
It is no surprise then employers often feel it's not worth it to apply for foreign workers themselves.
"Most are resigned to the fact that it's best to let the people who normally do the job to take over -- the middlemen who know their way around Immigration and other government agencies."
The company will charge a fee for the service.
"We know that to go through the middlemen, some money has to change hands.
"We're not happy with this because it adds to the cost of doing business."
He said the process of employing foreign labour should be made as transparent as recruiting expatriates.
"Pemudah has come up with a document of what needs to be done if you want to bring in expatriates. Departments are also given a time-frame to respond to an application.
"They pinpoint very clearly which agency to approach to get the approval.
"And you know exactly what the processes are and the time-frame involved."
(Pemudah is the Special Task Force to Facilitate Business set up in February 2007 to address business-government bureaucracy.)
But the same cannot be said when it comes to foreign labour.
"Things are not clear. The time frame is anybody's guess. If you don't know anybody (inside), you wait one month, three months, sometimes a year to get your approval."
Shamsuddin said when there were grey areas, people would use it to seek or offer payments.
MEF had received complaints about the problem and that it "cuts across all industries", he said
As the application for foreign workers involves more than one agency, each agency "imposes its own toll -- the official and unofficial fee".
Shamsuddin said an employer first had to go to the Human Resources Ministry and advertise in the Electronic Labour Exchange System, an electronic job matchmaker, for one month.
Then, he has to put up banners announcing that he requires workers.
Only after one month, and if there are no locals taking the offer, will the ministry allow him to recruit foreign labour.
"Then we have to go to the Home Ministry and get a permit to employ foreign workers, and then we have to deal with Immigration."
At the source country, the worker has to go through an induction course to familiarise himself with Malaysia before he is given a visa and brought into the country.
"All this takes time. It is anyone's guess how long it will take without middlemen," said Shamsuddin.
But Jamarul Khan, who heads the Malaysian Muslim Restaurant Operators Association, said most restaurant operators had no problems getting foreign workers to fulfil their needs.
"Things have improved compared with the days when we had to wait for six months to get a reply from the Immigration Department.
"Now, you get an interview on the same day and the results of your application by the third day."
However, Jamarul agreed with the MEF that there should be clear, written procedures for every application.
"There should be rules and regulations on what may or may not be approved.
"Sometimes one officer will say he cannot approve certain things, but another officer will say it can be done.
"This makes us question the integrity of the agency."
For businessman Fairulmiza Hamid, getting approval for foreign workers wasn't a problem -- the problem was he got 18 more approvals than he applied for.
It was reported that during a press conference with Seputeh member of parliament Teresa Kok on Wednesday, Fairulmiza said he applied for four workers from China, but got approval for 22.
"I wrote to the Immigration Department in Putrajaya to cancel the additional approvals.
"But a week later, a fellow director of my company said he was threatened by a former employee," he said.
The former employee told his colleague to withdraw the cancellation letter for the 18 workers, all of them women.
"I believe the former employee had dealings with agents or syndicates that had links inside the Immigration Department to bring in women for vice."
Fairulmiza said he had lodged a police report and closed his health centre as he feared action would be taken against him because of the 18 workers whose activities he knew nothing about.
