At a press conference at his ministry here, Saifuddin said the contract extension was decided in principle by the Cabinet “several weeks ago”.
However, he did not provide details about the duration of the contract.
Previously, Bestinet had a six-year contract with the home ministry to develop, supply, provide and maintain the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS), and it ended on May 31, 2024.
The 2022 Auditor-General’s Report, which was released last year, revealed that there were no signed agreement between the government and Bestinet, which meant Putrajaya’s rights were unclear.
It was also reported by Malaysiakini that FWCMS had numerous weaknesses that made it susceptible to manipulation, with instances of conflict of interest as well as breach of governance and control.
According to Saifuddin, the government has established a committee chaired by chief secretary to the government Zuki Ali to discuss the terms of Bestinet’s contract.
He said the committee also comprises representatives from the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), home ministry and human resources ministry.
“The discussions will be driven by four basic principles, namely, the application process, reducing the cost of migration (for foreign workers), foreign workers’ welfare, and employers’ interests,” he added.
Saifuddin said while the committee is focused on ultimately creating a more efficient foreign worker recruitment process, it is also aware that recruitment systems that allow foreign workers to enter the country without jobs lead to forced labour and human trafficking.
In March, four experts from the United Nations said they were concerned about the deceptive practice of using “fake companies” to recruit workers from Bangladesh, purportedly for employment in Malaysia.
In a March 28 letter addressed to Malaysia’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, the experts claimed that workers were forced into paying exorbitant recruitment fees and this had pushed them into debt bondage.
The experts reminded the government that failure to provide aid and protection to duped migrant workers would violate the Asean Convention Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, signed in Kuala Lumpur in 2015.