Malaysia to legalise illegal workers from Feb 15

The government of Malaysia is starting a legalisation programme from February 15 onwards for their illegal foreign workers to get legalised with their employers completing an online rehiring by filling up documentations.
Malaysian deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi made the announcement while taking to reporters at Putrajaya in Malaysia.
The programme would initially be implemented for three months and it is expected to benefit about two million workers without valid work permits, he said, according to a report published by Malaysian national News Agency Bernama on Friday.
Ahmad Zahid, also the Malaysian home minister, said that the programme would safeguard these workers from being cheated by unscrupulous foreign worker agents who undertake such registration.
‘Some employers who went through agents previously found that their workers were not registered after they had paid the fees.
‘This (online programme) can also prevent cases of employers not paying the levy for their workers,’ he said.
Ahmad Zahid said the programme would be continued if there was good response from employers and the foreign workers without permits.
When contacted, a senior official at Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur told New Age on Saturday that they just found the news from local newspapers.
‘But the mission has not received any written statement so far from the concerned authorities in Malaysia,’ the official said, adding that the conditions of legalisation or rehiring illegal workers are not known to them at this point.
‘After getting the official notes, we will be able to comment about the process,’ the official said.
Describing the initiative as positive, the official said that a good number of undocumented Bangladeshis who turned irregular for various reasons would get the privilege under the scheme, which was an outcome of continuous diplomatic efforts by government of Bangladesh.
Replying to a question, the labour official said 2.96 lakh Bangladeshis workers were legalised earlier under another programme in 2011.

 

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