Human resources minister M Saravanan said any application made by recruitment agencies will be rejected immediately.

“I want to remind all employers that applications must be made by themselves and not through any private recruitment agencies.

“The private manpower agencies should only act as facilitators and are not allowed to make applications on behalf of employers,” he said in a statement today.

He said the ministry had to date received 7,500 applications under the special programme to recruit a total of 32,000 foreign workers for the oil palm sector.

“Other applications were received but we did not entertain them as they were from cooperatives and outsourcing companies,” he added.

Saravanan said the ministry also received applications from employers in other sectors but he said the processing of applications for these categories will only begin on Feb 15.

Last September, the government announced that it will allow 32,000 foreign workers to be brought in through a special exemption programme to ease the critical labour shortage in the plantation sector.

Then, in December, the government agreed to expand the intake of foreign workers to cover the agriculture, manufacturing, services, mining and quarrying, and construction sectors, as well as domestic helpers.