Seputeh MP Teresa Kok is disappointed that Human Resources Minister M Saravanan did not reply to her questions in Parliament relating to the ministry’s domestic worker recruitment portal and now asks if her queries had hit close to the truth.
When contacted by Malaysiakini about her question on whether 3S Asia Sdn Bhd would be engaged in recruitment, placement and repatriation of domestic workers, she said: “He tai chi (avoided) the question.”
Kok (above) was contacted in relation to another Malaysiakini report today that revealed the developer of the portal to be linked to a government-registered Private Employment Agency (APS), indicating a legitimate conflict of interest.
In a separate report, the developer of the same portal, revealed to be a private company named 3S Malaysia Sdn Bhd, had also claimed exclusive ownership of the content in the portal, through the terms and conditions for registrants to the portal.
“Now, because he (Saravanan) didn’t reply to my questions. I am wondering if my questions were too hard to respond to because they had hit close to the truth.
“I am disappointed he avoided my questions in Parliament by keeping his reply to just telling us that the MOU between Malaysia and Indonesia would be signed on April 1 in Jakarta.
“I thought he would give the rest in writing as there was not enough time that day. However, my questions relating to 3sMalaysia.com were not addressed,” Kok said, referring to Saravanan’s oral responses in Parliament on March 14 and his written replies.
On March 8, Kok, referring to a Malaysiakini article dated March 3, had also asked the minister to explain who constructed 3sMalaysia.com.
She asked whether the developer of the portal was selected via direct negotiation or by open tender and if they were selected through the latter process, how many other companies had bid for the job and how were they selected.
"Saravanan owes us a reply and the ministry cannot keep mum as to how the selection of the company was carried out and what is the true nature of the connection between 3S Asia and the employment agency," she stressed.
Everyone is still in the dark
Kok had also asked in Parliament why, after the March 3 article was published, the 3sMalaysia.com portal was no longer accessible to visitors.
The renewed attempt to access 3sMalaysia.com on April 1 was redirected to MyOCS.com.my.
However, numerous attempts to register in the MyOCS.com.my portal by Malaysiakini and representatives from various APS were to no avail, indicating that it had not started functioning as a recruitment portal.
On April 1, Malaysia and Indonesia finally signed a memorandum of understanding on the “Employment and Protection of Domestic Workers” during an official ceremony in Jakarta.
The highly contentious MOU negotiations, which have been ongoing since 2016, have led to verbal sparring by both sides, in the media, and the signing date was postponed twice.
However, since the signing, there has been no announcement as to when recruitments would commence.
This left portal users in the dark as to the latest developments on how the recruitment process would flow.
Before the MOU was signed, about 1,000 recruitment agencies represented by four associations had made their objections known during a press conference on March 16.
They claimed that they would face undue business risks as users of the recruitment portal.
The group’s main contention was the recruitment flow (below) and strongly opposed requirements for full payments to be made through the portal before contracts were signed or biodata of workers viewed.
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