He said the laws and policies of source countries make it compulsory for Malaysian firms to conduct their recruitment via firms and agents based there.

“As a result, we have had to specify the roles and responsibilities of private hiring agencies and agents in almost all memoranda of understanding (MoUs) signed with source countries,” he said in a written reply in the Dewan Negara.

Sivakumar was responding to Lim Pay Hen, who asked whether the ministry would review existing MoUs to eliminate the use of foreign agents in the recruitment process.

Sivakumar said the government was ready to review all MoUs to meet the country’s present needs.

In February, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim asked the home ministry to eliminate the use of agents in the recruitment of foreign workers to lower hiring costs.

He said the high fees charged by agents were tantamount to “modern slavery”.

Fees payable to recruitment agents have long been blamed for the high costs incurred by Malaysian employers when hiring foreign workers.

These workers are themselves often forced to take high-interest loans to pay recruiters, putting them into “bondage”.

In February last year, then human resources minister M Saravanan told employers wanting to hire foreign workers to apply directly to the ministry instead of going through recruitment agencies.

Saravanan said applications made through agencies would be rejected by his ministry.

In 2018, his predecessor, M Kula Segaran, also said the ministry would review the roles of recruiting agents in the recruitment process.