Why didn’t you publicise report on foreign workers, PSM man asks PH

 

Parti Sosialis Malaysia central committee member S Arulchelvan took to Twitter to ask why the PH government refused to publicise the report.

PETALING JAYA: A Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) leader has urged Pakatan Harapan (PH) to reveal why it refused to make public a report on the management of foreign workers.

In a tweet, PSM central committee member S Arulchelvan said: “At least Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob was bold enough to declassify the government procurement of six LCS (littoral combat ships) by ex-auditor-general Ambrin Buang.

“PH, when in power, refused to make public the Special Independent Committee on Foreign Worker Management report by (former Suhakam chairman) Hishamudin Yunus. Why?”

The special independent committee was formed by the PH government to coordinate overall policies and the management of foreign workers.

It was headed by Hishamudin, a former Suhakan chairman and Court of Appeal judge, and Noor Farida Ariffin, a member of G25 – a group of prominent ex-civil servants.

The committee was then tasked with travelling around the country to gain insights on the hiring of foreign workers and to make recommendations to the government in a report that – according to former human resources minister M Kula Segaran – was to be made public.

Kula had previously called for the report to be made public in June 2020, when Perikatan Nasional was in power.

In a statement, he said he submitted the independent report to the Cabinet which contained proposals that would have made the management of foreign workers transparent.

When contacted, Arulchelvan told FMT that PH missed its chance to make the report public and implement its proposed reforms to better manage foreign workers.

He also pointed out that the PH government missed out by not declassifying reports that were produced by the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) and Institutional Reform Committee (IRC).

Both reports were classified as official secrets.

He welcomed Ismail’s move to declassify the governance, procurement and finance investigation committee’s report on the LCS although he questioned why such reports were classified when it was of national interest.

Arulchelvan hoped Ismail’s decision would “set a precedent”. - FMT