MEF: Immigration not listening to our grouses

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) will submit a letter to the Immigration Department to find out the rationale behind the new online system for Foreign Workers Permit (PLKS) through MyEG.
MEF executive director Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan said the immigration department should have allowed employers to try out the system and gauge its effectiveness before implementing it.
“We are not against the implementation of the system but rather how the authorities handled it including the employers who show up at the department,” he told theSun, adding that the federation has been flooded with hundreds of calls daily since the system was introduced on Jan 5.
A check by theSun at the immigration counters at Putrajaya and Damansara showed that employers were still showing up there.
The counters for manual PLKS applications and renewals were closed but MyEG staff were seen teaching employers how to use the online system.
Shamsuddin said since meeting immigration department top officers is not going to be easy, it is better that we submit a letter on our views regarding the system.
He said employers are very unhappy that they have to pay RM38 for each online transaction or application.
“It’s not cheap. It’s a lot of money as employers handle a lot of applications,” he said of the levy.
Several employers met at the immigration office in Damansara said if the authorities do not listen to their grievances, they would have to file official complaints with the relevant authorities.
“It looks like no one is interested with our complaints. We tried approaching the immigration officers but they just tell us to learn how to use the online system,” said a company director who wished to be identified only as Ismail.
On the three days needed for the online applications to be processed, he felt it was too long.
Another employer lamented that he had to scan his workers’ insurance cover notes and attached them to the applications. “It’s so complicating. Imagine how tough it is for those who are not IT-savvy.”
Several attempts by theSun to reach Immigration Director-General Datuk Mustafa Ibrahim since Monday were unsuccessful.
An immigration officer at the Damansara office said the employers’ grievances were being looked into.
Meanwhile, Sungai Petani MP Datuk Johari Abdul did not agreed with immigration department’s explanation that the online system was introduced to ease congestion.
He said the department had expedited the processing of applications manually using the latest technologies.
“It’s just a matter of management,” he said, adding that one wonders why the online system was outsourced.