In a statement, he said the home ministry had a “long history” of managing foreign workers in a way that led to “entrenched interests that would not readily give up its privileges, what more if they involved lucrative deals or doing away with relationships that had been cultivated over the years”.

During his tenure as human resources minister, he said, he had initiated a special independent committee on foreign worker management led by former Court of Appeal judge Hishammudin Yunus.

This committee had produced a report comprising 40 recommendations which he presented to the Cabinet for discussion, he said.

“Thereafter, the Cabinet set up a committee headed by the chief secretary to the government to suggest how the recommendations/proposals should be implemented.”

These included the establishment of the home ministry as the single authority for foreign worker management and the development of an end-to-end, single online system for the recruitment of foreign labour.

He said the most significant proposal was for the abolishment of outsourcing licences for labour supply, which would have brought an end to third-party service providers or agents.

“Not a single proposal of the said report has been implemented to date,” he said.

Calling for the report to be made public, he said Malaysia was the only country in Asia in which foreign worker management is handled by the home ministry instead of the human resources ministry.

“The Covid-19 among foreign workers is largely a symptom of neglect,” he added.

“It’s time for the home ministry to hand over the management of foreign workers to the human resources ministry.”

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