“Through FWCMS, we can find out about the workers the moment they are in the system. We will know when they will arrive in Malaysia.
“The system has been in the testing stage for a long time but will officially be implemented this year,” Zuraida Kamaruddin told FMT.
The plantation industries and commodities minister added that Malaysia would inform the World Trade Organization (WTO) that the country had upgraded its labour management system, adding that FWCMS was “foolproof”.
Malaysia, a key manufacturing hub, faced scrutiny this year over claims that migrant workers were being subjected to abusive working and living conditions. Foreigners are a significant part of its workforce.
The US Customs and Border Protection service had banned six Malaysian firms, including rubber glove makers and palm oil producers, in the last two years from selling their products in the country after finding evidence of forced labour.
Meanwhile, Zuraida, who is a Bersatu Supreme Council member, said she had not received any official notice on her status in the party.
Zuraida, who just returned from an official working visit to Iran, said she was still the plantation industries and commodities minister.
“I do not know what’s going on and I have not received any official notice from the party,” she said on her status following Bersatu’s assessment of her alleged involvement with Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM).
On Feb 7, Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin said Zuraida’s Supreme Council position and her status as a minister would be at stake if the allegations of her involvement in PBM were found to be true.
He said no decision had been made on her position, although many people had said that she had joined another party.
On another matter, Zuraida, who is also Ampang MP, said she welcomed the participation of new parties such as Muda and PBM in the March 12 Johor state elections.
She said it was a healthy democratic practice that should be celebrated as she believed any political party would want to serve the people and country.
“As long as their objective is to serve the people, we should welcome them. If they deviate from that goal, we should not support them,” she said.