​Whilst the Return Recalibration programme will assist the illegal foreign workers to be repatriated, the Workforce Recalibration programme which will allow the legalisation of illegal foreign workers may not address labour shortage problems faced by employers as most of the illegal foreign workers are either currently duly employed or self-employed. 

“The success of the newly announced recalibration employment programme would depend largely on the cost and the qualifying terms and conditions to be announced by the government,” said MEF President Dato’ Dr Syed Hussain Syed Husman J.P. 

“For instance, the programme may work if it is similar to the previous 6P legalisation programme which was low cost with minimum qualifying conditions. Under the previous 6P legalisation programme employers dealt with the Immigration Department directly and were not subjected to stringent qualifying conditions and paid reasonable cost as there was no third party involved.  

“We hope the new employment recalibration programme will mirror the 6P program with some improvements. The 6P programme managed to legalize more than one million of illegal foreign workers which was the most successful compared to the other programmes.”  

Dato’ Dr Syed Hussain said the number of illegal foreign workers could not be reduced because of the huge unsatisfied demand for foreign workers especially by micro enterprises who find it very hard to employ foreign workers legally.  

“The government should allow employers from all sectors including micro enterprises to employ foreign workers legally and this would definitely reduce the number of illegal foreign workers in our country,” he added. 

For further information, contact the MEF Secretariat at 03-7955-7778 or fax 03-7955-9008 or email mef-hq@mef.org.my.  

13 NOVEMBER 2020