KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Human Resources (KESUMA) has implemented several reforms within the Human Resources Development Corporation (HRD Corp) to further strengthen its governance, Minister Steven Sim (pix) said.
He added that among the reforms is the segregation of accounts for the payment of levy on foreign workers’ wages from other accounts, as the levy is considered the right of the company or employer who is paying.
“So the levy should not be used for any purpose other than to help employers train their employees.”
“Several new committees have been set up to improve the administration of the HRD Corp, such as the risk committee, which will analyse the risks, and the tender committee to streamline the process of using the levy by employers and to broaden the scope of eligible expenditure,” he said during a question and answer session at the Dewan Rakyat today.
Sim was responding to a supplementary question from Lim Guan Eng (PH-Bagan), who asked about the restructuring of the five KESUMA agencies, including HRD Corp.
In response to another supplementary question from Lim on whether the government will reconsider the policy on the length of employment of foreign labour in the country, Sim said that the 10-year employment period, which can be extended by three years, is currently sufficient.
“(Recruiting) these foreign workers is not a long-term solution (for the country) because this 10+3 year period is to allow local companies to train and upskill more local workers.
“So this period should be used to promote and develop the local labour force,“ he said.
In his reply to the original question, Sim said that according to the Immigration Department records, 2.17 million foreign workers are employed in various sectors as of March 15. -Bernama
