Page 71 - BPAReport

Enforcement actions

121. The expatriate subcommittee will manage enforcement and evaluation actions to
confirm compliance of the employers with the employment and other applicable laws,
regulations, guidelines and good practices.

122. The expatriate subcommittee will seek to develop a user friendly accessible
complaints mechanism for expatriates. They will prepare quarterly reports on issues and
shortcomings raised affecting expatriates as well as the mitigating policies taken and
envisaged. These reports will be disseminated to the general public.

Policy Recommendations for managing expatriates
1. Regulation and management of expatriate policy be coordinated centrally by
MOHR through the OPRM.
2. OPRM to develop online system integrated to NFWMS for expatriate application
and approval process as well as administration.
3. Online module will have capability to issue standard digitalized Smart ID cards for
expatriates.
4. OPRM will manage enforcement actions

5.6 Policies for foreign domestic workers

123. Some bilateral MOUs guide Malaysia’s foreign domestic workers’ (FDW) policies
with the source countries. Malaysia is not a party to the ILO Convention 189 which outline
the employment laws, working conditions, and social protection mechanism for FDWs.
Malaysia does not recognize the status of domestic workers. As of October 2018, there were
127,373 FDWs with 90,118, or 70.17% from Indonesia and 32,997 or 25.91% from the
Philippines. From 2015 to October 2018, it was reported that 23,520 FDWs fled from their
employers of which some 16,304 were Indonesian FDWs.

124. Currently the management of the process for deployment of FDW is under the
purview of the Immigration Department of Malaysia (JIM). The FDW is also provided with a
PLKS. There are two methods for the employer when seeking to hire a FDW. The first
involves a direct application to JIM and the second method is through the Maid Online
System (SMO). Operations also go through the Foreign Workers Centralized Management
System (FWCMS). Applications can be made directly by the employer or a registered private
employment agency on behalf of an employer.

125. For the first method, the process differs somewhat if the FDW is from Indonesia. On
the basis of an MOU with Indonesia in 2011, the application for an Indonesian FDW must
first be cleared by the Labour Department of MOHR (JTK) before the process can be
completed by JIM. JTK will verify that the employer complies with Malaysian employment
laws before providing clearance.

126. For the second method, the SMO application by the employer can be made for a FDW
who is already in Malaysia, having entered the country with a tourist visitor’s pass.

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