The independent committee on foreign worker management said the human resources ministry was best suited for the role as it already has the responsibility of determining the Malaysian economy’s labour market needs.

“The ministry is also responsible for the oversight and enforcement of the industry’s compliance with Malaysian employment laws and consistency with international norms and practices,” it said in its report.

The report was submitted to the Dr Mahathir Mohamad-led Cabinet in 2019, but remained classified for four years.

In May, the committee led by former Court of Appeal judge Hishamudin Yunus urged Putrajaya to implement its recommendations and also to make its report public.

A month later, the unity government’s joint committee on foreign worker management agreed to table the declassification of the report to the Cabinet. The Cabinet then agreed to make the report public.

Home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail had said in January that his ministry would be the “main custodian” in managing foreign workers, while the human resources ministry’s role in labour policy, determining migrant worker quotas and finalising agreements with source countries would be “strengthened”.

In its report, the panel had urged the then Cabinet to repeal the decision to delegate the authority on managing foreign workers to the home ministry so that the human resources ministry could take over the role.

“Previous special approvals for hiring foreign workers would also need to be repealed. In addition, the Cabinet may need a new decision to expand the human resources ministry’s role to include these strategic functions.”

The committee had also recommended that the government lift the freeze on the intake of foreign workers for service sectors where labour shortages were critical.

“The human resources ministry should also begin to establish processes that will emulate the eventual online system with the embedded decision algorithms of the multi-tier levy system.

“This will slowly reduce the functions of the one-stop centre and speed up the application and approval process for foreign workers,” it said.

It also suggested that an insurance plan outside of the Social Security Organisation’s (Socso) scheme be provided for migrant workers, as part of protecting the physical and mental health of the workers.

It recommended that the public healthcare system should provide equal healthcare fees for foreign workers, refugees and locals.