DAP’s Charles Santiago told FMT that minister M Saravanan “has to find a better excuse than just blaming the closure of Parliament,” seeing this was an issue that had existed for some time.

In its Application of International Labour Standards 2021 report, ILO placed Malaysia in the “serious failure to submit” category, among other countries which had repeatedly ignored requests for reports on certain issues.

In response to this, Saravanan said his ministry had planned to table the ILO’s recommendations and all relevant instruments in Parliament in March and to respond at the next ILO Conference in June, but their timeline was disrupted by the prorogation of Parliament.

One such recommendation that Malaysia has yet to respond to is C198 regarding employment relationships, which was adopted at the 95th ILO Conference in 2006, with another pertaining to harassment and violence adopted in 2019.

“They have not responded for a long time; this is a systemic failure of the government, it is not a one-off event and has nothing to do with Parliament,” said Santiago who is also Klang MP and a frequent advocate of workers’ rights.

Santiago also questioned why, given the powers afforded to the government under the emergency, the ILO’s requests could not be responded to without Parliament, while laws were able to be gazetted.

This sentiment was echoed by J Solomon, general-secretary of the National Union of Bank Employees, who said he was “shocked” to hear the minister’s rationale.

“At the ILO Conference in 2019, the Malaysian government promised to comply with its obligation to submit information pertaining to the Conventions, Recommendations and Protocols adopted at the ILO since 2006 to the competent authority (Parliament),” he said.

“Parliament was suspended on Jan 12, 2021, not from 2006. From June 2019 until the beginning of January 2021 the government could have honoured their promise.”

He said given the tripartite nature of the ILO involving workers, employers and the government, the government’s cooperation is needed for all parties to be able to participate in the implementation of international labour standards.

“If a government fails to comply with this obligation, it also makes it hard for the Malaysian Employers Federation and the Malaysian Trades Union Congress to comment, and an essential element of three-way cooperation is lost. A government which fails to comply is a government which deliberately refuses to respect the tripartite nature.”