PETALING JAYA: The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) has called for greater transparency from importing countries in their decision-making on the imposition of Withhold Release Order (WRO) with regard to breach of regulations and indications of forced labour.
“I think what we really need to know is the actual grounds or the reasons for that ban, not just to have a blanket order which leaves everybody guessing as to what actually went wrong,” Suhakam commissioner Datuk Mah Weng Kwai told the media in a virtual press conference following the commission’s stakeholder consultation on forced labour issues in the plantation industry yesterday.
Should there be any hesitation with disclosure, Mah suggested that the importing countries could share their concerns with Suhakam on a confidential basis instead.
“But I don’t see any harm for it to be in the public domain to really know what the breaches are. It’s only when we do know, we can get people to improve.”
In September 2020, the US Customs and Border Protection imposed a WRO on FGV Holdings Bhd’s palm oil and palm oil products, citing the presence of 11 International Labour Organization Indicators of Forced Labour.
Similarly, in December 2020, Sime Darby Plantation Bhd’s palm oil and palm oil product imports into the world’s largest economy were slapped with a WRO over forced labour allegations by the US agency. To date, both companies have not succeeded in getting the orders lifted.
Mah said the Human Resources Ministry has conceded that there are insufficient labour inspectors to sort out the issues relating to forced labour within the plantation industry, with only 500 personnel tasked to monitor the situation.
“One thing for sure is no one is in a state of denial, no one is saying there is no such thing as forced labour and there is a recognition of the problem,” said the commissioner.
“Even the ministry said they do not have enough labour inspectors to check on this problem. They said they have a small figure of 400, so it involves the issue that there is not enough manpower on the ground to actually go out and monitor the companies.”
Towards advancing worker protection, Mah advocated liberalisation of recruitment agencies, as there should not be a monopoly of the business in Malaysia to start with.
He argued that such business should be open to competition for anyone or any particular company which fulfils the criteria to be a recruitment agency. This move will be a good development for the industry itself as competition will spur agencies to provide better services and drive down costs.
On this subject, Mah pointed out that there are issues relating to recruitment fees involving the companies here or those in supplying countries, which resulted in debt bondage for the workers.
To rectify this situation, he suggested that the companies hiring these foreign workers foot the fees instead of the employees.
“Some companies do pay for the recruitment fees, but some make the workers pay for them, which can be quite exorbitant, and it is not uncommon to hear about workers spending months to pay off the fees.
“The objective is to ensure these recruitment fees are borne by the companies, and if at all workers have to pay any part, it should be fair and reasonable.”
Suhakam vice-chairman Jerald Joseph called for agreements or memorandums of understanding made between governments concerning imported or exported labour to be made public.
“It is time we stopped such secretive MoU and agreements, if the process is more open and transparent it will build more confidence in any labour negotiations and allow for more transparent policies.”
With such a move, he said, everyone in the recruitment process from the workers to the recruitment agencies will know what is required of them and will be allowed to take action should any form of abuse or cheating were to take place.