Private employment agencies are reeling from shock after Human Resources Minister M Saravanan denied knowledge of 3S Malaysia Sdn Bhd.
The minister clarified on Tuesday (April 12) that recruitment will be linked to the Foreign Worker Centralised Management System (FWCMS) provided by Bestinet Sdn Bhd instead.
However, employment agencies feel misled as they have attended at least one meeting with representatives from 3S Malaysia on the fifth floor of the ministry’s premises in Putrajaya.
Association of Employment Agencies Malaysia (Papa) president Foo Yong Hooi asked, “who introduced 3S Malaysia to the employment agencies?”
He said Papa and three other associations representing registered private employment agencies in Malaysia were invited by the ministry for a briefing on March 2 at the ministry’s premises.
“Ministry officials asked us to attend a briefing by the owners of the portal, 3S Malaysia.
“The meeting was also attended by two high-ranking ministry officials, one who joined via an online video-conferencing platform and the other was physically present.
“But, now the minister’s denial of even knowing 3S Malaysia is very perplexing and we feel misled,” lamented Foo.
He asked if Saravanan (above) implied the briefing by 3S Malaysia was organised without his knowledge.
Foo asked for the ministry to issue an official statement to declare that 3S Malaysia’s web portal was no longer or was never the ministry’s official web portal intended to facilitate recruitment, placement, and repatriation of Indonesian domestic workers.
This statement will clear the confusion as the association leaders were answerable to their members.
“Following our first meeting with 3S Malaysia, each association has held several briefings with their respective members, all of whom are registered private recruitment agencies.
“The association leaders too met several times to discuss many aspects of the process flow in the portal to which we had strong objections,” Foo added.
‘We need clear, legitimate facts’
National Association of Human Resources Malaysia (Pusma) president Zarina Ismail said at least 1,000 private employment agencies were still waiting to resume their business after more than two years of zero operations.
However, she said the constant contradictory statements from the minister have dashed their hopes repeatedly.
“We need someone who can give us clear and legitimate facts instead of yo-yoing us.
“The invitation to meet 3S Malaysia was extended to us by the ministry so it’s too late to pretend that it didn’t happen,” she declared.
When Indonesia signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Malaysia on April 1, addressing the employment and protection of domestic workers from its country, employment agencies were keen to resume recruitment.
It was reported following the signing that the minister would meet private employment agencies to clear any doubts and confusion over the agreement and Zarina asked for this meeting to take place with no further delay.
Calling for accountability and integrity, Zarina said either Saravanan was confused or his statements were confusing everyone.
She said this was clear in his recent denial of 3S Malaysia’s relationship with the ministry and the confusion over the minimum wage of Indonesian domestic workers.
Portal now ‘under maintenance’
During the MOU negotiations, Indonesia introduced the concept of a One Channel System where every step in the recruitment and placement flow was to be carried out through a web portal involving both countries.
This portal would also link all relevant government departments that were involved in the recruitment, placement, and repatriation of Indonesian domestic workers.
This would also include the Indonesian Embassy in Malaysia.
On Malaysia’s side, it was to be known as MyOCS and on Indonesia’s side, it would simply be known as OCS.
When 3S Malaysia briefed private employment agencies in early March, the portal was called 3sMalaysia.com.
Following a report on the portal published in Malaysiakini on March 3, the portal became inaccessible for reasons unknown, but renewed attempts to access 3sMalaysia.com on April 1 were redirected to MyOCS.com.my.
After Saravanan’s denial yesterday, the website was found to be displaying an “under maintenance” notice to visitors.
The process flow and terms and conditions for registrants of the portal had previously courted objections and raised questions about the data privacy of Malaysian employers.
The portal was also revealed to have links to a registered private employment agency raising concerns of a conflict of interest.
Malaysiakini has repeatedly made attempts to reach 3S Malaysia chief executive officer Jimmy Udjaja, its company director Yap Kon Min, its general manager Afifi Akram, and executives Suffian (full name unknown) and Stephen Nitto.
No response has been received at the time of publishing. - Mkini
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