Page 38 - BPAReport

mystery to applicants and the industry as to how these approval decisions were arrived at and
why certain groups of applicants were favoured over others. There was widespread
perception that this lack of transparency concealed corrupt practices, misdeeds and breaches
of trust.

7. Even though the application process saw improvements through the introduction of
online systems, there were however several unrelated online systems which were deployed.
The online systems also do not have completely integrated modules to accomplish
conveniently the multiple-step processes involved in the application, recruitment, renewal,
replacement and repatriation stages in the administration of foreign workers.

8 Even with the introduction of one-stop-centres in an attempt to speed up the approval
process, there continued to be heavy reliance on physical processes requiring submissions of
voluminous documentation; face-to-face contacts for interviews; discretionary decision
making, sometimes involving the Ministerial special arrangements referred to above; and the
inconvenience of having senior managers to travel often to regional headquarters (including
Putrajaya) to attend to applications and to secure approvals.

4.2 Complaints on the designated economic sectors and subsectors

9. Stakeholders have requested that foreign workers be allowed in more sectors than the
currently designated economic sectors and subsectors where manual and casual workers are
in short supply to support these other economic sector’s production requirements.

10. Employers have also asked that gender discrimination be removed for example, in
employment of only male foreign caddies. Similarly, nationality discrimination such as the
prohibition of Indonesian male workers in manufacturing, should be abolished as the
“justification” for its imposition in the past no longer exists.

11. Finally, there are demands for the withdrawal of guidelines that prohibit foreign
workers being deployed in front office activities, for example hotel reception or in activities
that require direct face-to-face contacts like sales clerks or cashiers.

12. There are sub-sectors where the entry of
foreign workers have been frozen (see Box7). Box 7: Frozen Subsectors
Stakeholders have asked that services subsectors that Retail and Wholesale Trade
have been frozen should be reopened again for the Textile Trade
entry of foreign workers. The reasons behind why Goldsmith
these subsectors have been frozen are not explained Welfare Home
and the decisions to freeze appear to have been Metal Scrap & Used Item
arbitrarily made. The businesses in these subsectors Barbering
have been severely affected and Malaysian Dobby
customers continue to demand these services which Cargo Handling (Warehouse and
are essential to them and for which Malaysian others)
workers are not available or do not have the skills
required, e.g. goldsmiths, specialized tailoring of Indian clothes, barbers, etc.

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