... Plantation and commodities minister Johari Ghani has rejected a claim by the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) that the government would be acting unfairly by penalising companies for bringing in foreign workers without ready jobs for them.

“FMM cannot merely point fingers at recruitment agencies. These applications (to bring in foreign workers) cannot be made without demand and cooperation from companies,” Johari told FMT.

He was responding to FMM president Soh Thian Lai’s claim on Friday that the presence of foreign workers without jobs was likely the work of “unscrupulous agents who bring (them) in with the false promise of jobs awaiting them, while committing fraud through falsification of paperwork”.

Johari said that under the existing system, foreign workers will only be allowed into the country based on quotas applied for by companies.

“The issue here is that some companies request a foreign worker quota without having jobs available for them.

“Instead, they try to make money by selling their quotas to other companies. This is deemed as human trafficking or forced labour,” he said.

He said the “irresponsible” companies and agencies engaged in such practices must be penalised more severely…