PETALING JAYA: Former Klang MP Charles Santiago has called on Putrajaya to implement a zero recruitment cost policy for foreign workers to overcome “debt bondage”.
He said zero recruitment cost meant the employer from the receiving country will pay the migrant worker’s entire costs, including passport fees and travel, leaving him with no debt.
“If you hire through a broker, they will make the migrant worker pay a huge sum of money. If the migrant worker does not have the money, they will start taking loans which puts the worker in debt (even before he starts work),” he told FMT.
Santiago said the zero recruitment cost policy is also the preferred method of employers.
“From what I know, even the employers prefer this method. They do not want their migrant workers coming here with huge debts, which will lead to them needing to work extra hours, thus violating the labour laws.
“When employers don’t give them the extra hours they want, the migrant workers will start making noise (creating a fuss).
“This will lead to public attention and if it spreads outside the country, you’ll have (foreigners, including Europeans and Americans) boycotting products from Malaysia. It has a ripple effect,” he said.
Santiago said another approach would be to set up a body to oversee recruitment agencies.
“If a migrant worker complains about a particular agency, immediate action should be taken,” he said.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said he wanted the home ministry to stop using agents to recruit foreign workers because of the higher costs involved.
He said the high fees charged by agents were tantamount to “modern slavery”.
The fees charged by recruitment agents have long been blamed for increased costs to bring in foreign workers.
The workers are often forced to take high-interest loans or mortgage their land to pay the recruitment fees, putting them into “bondage”.