'Privatise management of recruiting migrants in construction'

The Home Ministry and the Human Resources Ministry have been asked to allow the recruitment of migrant workers for the construction industry to be managed entirely by the Construction Labour Exchange Centre Berhad (CLAB).

Deputy Public Works Minister Ahmad Maslan proposed the matter, saying that CLAB's role would be to manage the interview process in source countries up to the provision of accommodation and wages to ensure the welfare of workers.

“If this cannot be done yet, I also have another option, which is that all projects under the government whether it is the construction of roads, buildings, bridges and slopes that are under Development Expenditure this year of RM90 billion, the workers under that sector are managed by CLAB.

“(This) so that we don’t have an excess of migrant workers and there is no forced labour issue,” he said at a press conference after officiating CLAB's 20th-anniversary celebration yesterday.

‘Ready to manage’

Meanwhile, CLAB CEO Abdul Rafik Abdul Rajis said CLAB is ready to fully manage the recruitment of migrant workers for the construction sector to reduce the issue of worker dumping in the industry.

“CLAB is also exploring several joint ventures on the provision of employee accommodation centres based in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Johor, Penang and Negeri Sembilan.

“CLAB also conducts interviews and physical tests for migrant construction workers including lifting iron, cutting wood and also other fitness tests to ensure that the workers provided are according to the employer’s needs,” he said.

Rafik said that other programmes that CLAB has prepared are the Expatriate Programme, the Apprenticeship Programme with Akademi Binaan Malaysia (ABM) and a free job search platform for the construction industry at www.jobskillz.my.

CLAB was established in November 2003 by the Malaysian Construction Industry Development Board to implement the decisions of the Cabinet Committee on Migrant Workers.

CLAB's main role is as a facilitator to receive and administer a database of information related to migrant construction workers who have valid permits from companies that have completed projects and redistribute them to other construction companies that need workers.

- Bernama