Almost two weeks since the government embarked on its latest exercise to legalise undocumented migrants in the country, the Human Resources Ministry has received applications from 113 employers looking to hire 17,292 workers.
The ministry, through the Labour Department of Peninsular Malaysia, is authorised to approve hiring quotas for employers.
On the other hand, the Immigration Department is tasked to run the voluntary repatriation of undocumented migrants, under set conditions.
The Human Resources Ministry, in a statement, reiterated that no middlemen or vendors were appointed to manage the programme.
"Monitoring is conducted from time to time to ensure the implementation of the recalibration programme will not be exploited by irresponsible parties.
"The government views the matter seriously and will conduct a thorough investigation against parties found to have taken advantage of the programme, in order to prevent any manipulation of an employer or worker," the ministry said.
The execution of past amnesty exercises launched from the era of BN to the last Pakatan Harapan administration was fraught with allegations linked to the involvement of third-party vendors or an unauthorised middle person claiming to assist the process.
Shortly after coming into power, the then Harapan administration in June 2018 terminated the services of three vendor companies contracted to carry out a rehiring exercise of undocumented foreign workers.
At the time, questions were raised over the need for the former BN government to grant the three companies the monopoly to process the rehiring applications from undocumented migrant workers.
Meanwhile, the latest recalibration programme comprises two main components - the Return Recalibration Programme and the Labour Recalibration Programme - implemented from Nov 16 to June 30, 2021.
Immigration director-general Khairul Dzaimee Daud previously said only employers from four sectors, namely manufacturing, construction, agriculture and plantations, were allowed to participate in the current programme.
The last 'Back For Good' amnesty exercise launched in August last year up to last Dec 31 saw more than 180,000 undocumented migrants being voluntarily repatriated. - Mkini
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