Questions raised over HR ministry’s AI migrant worker hiring system

 Former MP and a public policy analyst question its cost and development, pointing to flaws in the existing foreign workers' management system.

The UN had described the exploitation of migrant workers in Malaysia as widespread and systematic, warn former Klang MP Charles Santiago and public policy analyst V Aishwarya. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA:

 A former MP and a public policy analyst have questioned the human resources ministry’s plan to set up a migrant worker recruitment system that employs artificial intelligence, purportedly to ensure zero costs to workers in the hiring process.

Former Klang MP Charles Santiago and V Aishwarya asked if stakeholders were consulted on this new system and how much it would cost the government.

They also asked the ministry to explain how this recruitment system would differ from the existing foreign workers centralised management system (FWCMS).

“Let’s remember that the FWCMS became a tool for a syndicate that extracts fees from workers.

“An AI label doesn’t automatically fix governance failure. What safeguards will prevent this new platform from suffering the same fate?” they said in a joint statement.

They also questioned human resources minister R Ramanan’s statement that the AI-based system would cut out middlemen and lead to zero costs to migrant workers.

They said migrant workers often paid fees to informal brokers in their villages in order to get jobs in Malaysia, questioning how the system would track this.

“Most importantly, who develops and controls this AI system?

“Bestinet’s FWCMS was awarded without proper open tender processes and operated without a contract for six years. Will the AI platform go through transparent public procurement, or will it be a direct negotiation?

“The exploitation of migrant workers in Malaysia was described by the UN as widespread and systematic.

“AI systems must not replicate this. No technology can build trust while impunity for past wrongs remains the norm,” said Santiago, of DAP, and Aishwarya.

Following a bilateral meeting on labour migration with Bangladesh yesterday, Ramanan said the AI-based system would reduce middlemen and migration costs, while ensuring bosses bear the full recruitment costs.

The minister said this would result in “zero cost to workers”, adding that Bangladesh backed implementing such a digital platform. -- FMT