“The minimum wage rate is A$20.33 (RM63) per hour in Australia and US$8 per hour in South Korea, which is RM33,” Awang said.

He was responding to a question from Shabudin Yahaya (PN-Tasek Gelugor) about Malaysians working overseas and whether the ministry had received any complaints of them being exploited.

Awang said the ministry had not received any complaints about Malaysian workers being exploited by any licensed labour recruitment agencies registered with the ministry.

He said any licensed labour recruitment agency found to exploit Malaysian workers overseas would be punished under the Private Employment Agencies Act 1981, which carries a prison sentence not exceeding three years, a fine of not more than RM200,000, or both.

Last month, the Malaysia-Singapore Workers Task Force had urged the government to act on alleged exploitation of Malaysian construction workers in Singapore after a video clip of a wage dispute argument between the workers and management went viral.