HIRING migrant workers from India to Malaysia will now be more transparent, fair, and orderly with the signing of a new memorandum of understanding between the two countries on Tuesday (Aug 20).
Human Resources Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong said the MOU signed after the previous had lapsed in 2014 will also curb bad practices in the industry such as labour exploitation.
“Despite that, more than 133,000 Indian workers still entered Malaysia even though there were no guidelines between the two countries.
“With the signing of this new MOU, the hiring of workers from India will now be more transparent, fair, and orderly, while avoiding bad practices such as the exploitation of migrant workers that can have a negative impact on the country and local workers,” he told reporters in New Delhi.
Sim accompanied Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who ended his three-day official visit to India yesterday (Aug 21).
The MOU regarding the recruitment, employment, and repatriation of workers saw the exchange of documents between Sim and Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar.
Anwar and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi together witnessed the signing of the MOU at Hyderabad House on Tuesday.
Sim said the second MOU was signed between TalentCorp Malaysia and a skills development centre in India aimed at developing an integrated skills training ecosystem and job matching.
In the employment sector, he said six critical sectors in Malaysia need migrant workers from India including the service sector, plantations, and agriculture.
In addition, there are over 85,000 highly skilled workers from India working in Malaysia in engineering and technical fields.
Meanwhile, Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo, who signed an MOU with the Indian government regarding cooperation in the field of digital technology, said agencies under his ministry such as MDEC will play an important role in implementing this MOU, with the close cooperation of the Malaysian and Indian governments.
He said the MOU also emphasised the importance of building talent in the field of cyber security in Malaysia, ensuring that every company has sufficient exposure to the growing cyber security threats. – Aug 22, 2024
Main photo credit: UNI
