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30. Absence of a comprehensive database to monitor the deployment of foreign workers
lead to gaps in evidence based policy making and evaluation of policy effectiveness. In this
regard, the levy payment attached to PLKS workers has also raised several issues. Several
rates have been set which differs across sectors and territories. However, the objective of the
levy as a tool to influence the relative cost of utilizing foreign workers has not been
accomplished because of its inappropriate application.

31 The obligation for paying the levy which by design should be imposed on the
employer, as a cost for reliance on a foreign worker, has instead seen the obligation for
payments alternating between employers and the foreign workers. Several billions ringgits
are collected every year from the foreign levy and some stakeholders have argued that
sufficient resources are available to strengthen the management of foreign workers and
enhance enforcement of employment laws.

32. Lack of financial and human capabilities have contributed to the design of
inappropriate or weak responses to the rise in undocumented workers. There are also no
official estimates of the number of undocumented workers and the Independent Committee
could not find any agency of government responsible for tracking and conceiving policies to
address undocumented workers. In particular, the number and distribution of PLKS workers
by occupation, sectors and location which may be available are not readily shared for analysis
and enforcement purposes.

4.7 Complaints about enforcement policies

33. As would be expected, there are many procedures and requirements to be complied
with before the arrival of foreign workers, upon arrival of foreign workers, when the worker
is in place, for the extension or replacement of such workers, upon their repatriation, etc.
These multiple bureaucratic procedures in the form of regulations (reflecting the multiple
agencies involved) are meant to control and safeguard against abuse of the system and the
workers by unscrupulous employers and third party entities who may be involved. They also
serve as a shield to filter out workers that may pose security and health risks to the country.

34. However, effective enforcement may only be undertaken if all the regulatory officials
have the knowledge and understand the intricacies of how the regulated procedures and
requirements interact and are manifested in the field. The Independent Committee strongly
believes that one of the major causes of ineffective enforcement stems from the loss of knowhow
and network contacts of Government enforcement personnel arising from the
outsourcing of the essential procedures, functions and requirements previously performed by
regulatory agencies to third-party private service providers.

35. The first hand field experience and learning on-the-job of enforcement officials have
been truncated by outsourced functions or digitalized by online applications which are then
subsequently maintained by these service providers as vendors. It is uncertain if these
officials have been involved in the design of the online systems, understand how and what
data are being generated and have the capability to generate the needed monitoring and
management indicators to support enforcement activities. The Independent Committee is of
the view that the separation of enforcement officials from direct involvement in the gathering
of information and building the database may have impaired their ability for proper analysis
and intelligence gathering on the risks posed by the ebb and flow of foreign workers.

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