KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 — The Parliament was today told that the Human Resources Ministry has approved a total of 995,396 employment quota for foreign workers as of last March 14.
Deputy Minister of Human Resources Mustapha Sakmud said of the total, the levy for 84.7 per cent of them had been paid by employers.
“Employers are given up to 18 months to bring in foreign workers to Malaysia after paying the levy,” he said during the question and answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was responding to a question from Chow Kon Yeow (PH-Batu Kawan) who wanted to know the list of all the ongoing negotiations, completed ones and those still in the process, with potential countries to supply labour to the country, as well as the number of workers that are expected to be brought in and the length of time needed to overcome the current labour shortage.
Mustapha said most of the quota approved were for workers in the manufacturing sector, followed by construction, services, plantations, agriculture, mining and quarrying.
He said so far, Malaysia has established labour cooperation for the recruitment and employment of foreign workers through memorandums of understanding (MoU) with 10 source countries.
However, only eight MoUs are still in force, namely with Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Pakistan, Vietnam, Nepal and Cambodia, he said, adding that the MoU with India and Sri Lanka had expired.
The ministry, he said, had finalised the MoU with the Government of India on March 13, 2023 and is expected to be signed before the end of the first quarter of this year.
