Bestinet to gain from influx of Bangladeshi workers, says PKR Youth

The 1.5 million foreign workers from Bangladesh will help IT firm Bestinet Sdn Bhd is set to make a huge profit through the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, July 1, 2015.

IT firm Bestinet Sdn Bhd is set to make a huge profit  through the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS) which has been outsourced to it when 1.5 million foreign workers from Bangladesh are brought into the country, says PKR Youth said today.

Its information chief, Lee Chean Chung, said this money would be collected through FWCMS which required every foreign worker to pay RM100 to undergo a medical check-up at their country of origin.

"The company in charge of the FWCMS system, Bestinet Sdn Bhd, is expected to pocket a huge sum of profit from this RM100 fee charged to every 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers.

"They are expected to earn about RM150 million," he said.

Lee questioned the awarding of the contract directly to Bestinet without going through an open tender process.

He said Bestinet was a RM2 company until 2013, adding that checks with Companies Commission of Malaysia revealed that Bestinet did not submit any audit report for four years since 2010.

Lee said it gave rise to concerns that the importing of foreign workers was encouraged by companies like Bestinet, which is controlled by Umno leaders.

It was reported in February that former home minister Tan Sri Azmi Khalid was the executive chairman of Bestinet.

Lee added that this did not  include the profit made from importing foreign workers from other countries such as Indonesia, Philippines, Myanmar and Nepal as well as those  already working here.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced last week that 1.5 million workers from Bangladesh would be brought to Malaysia in stages over three years to meet the demands of employers from various sectors.

But Lee said that the influx of foreign workers would take away job opportunities for the locals.

"If cheaper foreign work resources are imported and used to fill up local job opportunities, how can we plan to uplift the country’s economy and the income of our citizens?" he said.

Lee urged Zahid to come up with a concrete explanation to the concerns raised to prove he was a responsible minister.

The FWCMS and biometric health checks, which were outsourced to Bestinet, had been criticised by foreign employment agencies who threatened to stop sending workers to Malaysia.

They cited added costs and security concerns over workers’ information.

Indonesian employment agencies also said that the exorbitant fees were a huge burden to their countrymen who were looking to either work or study in Malaysia and also threatened to stop sending workers to Malaysia.

- TMI