From Bryan Lui and Harnesh Bhullar
We act for Bestinet Sdn Bhd. We write pursuant to our client’s instructions to clarify the factual position and to place on record the following:
As the architects, investors, engineers, and operators of one of the world’s most advanced foreign worker management infrastructures, Bestinet stands firmly behind its system and the facts that underpin it.
The reality before FWCMS
Before the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS), Malaysia’s foreign worker management ecosystem was manual, fragmented, and vulnerable to abuse, with no digital records, no audit trail, and no accountability.
Ministries operated in silos without integration. Employers had to queue up as early as 3am at government counters, creating repeated opportunities for illicit and unrecorded payments.
In the vast majority of cases, medical reports and insurance documents were falsified. In many instances, workers sent imposters to attend medical screenings.
Quota applications were manually manipulated through collusion between employers, brokers, and intermediaries, generating artificial demand to extract money from vulnerable workers, many of whom arrived in debt bondage.
Based on industry assessments and historical observations, financial leakages ran into billions of ringgit.
How Bestinet transformed the ecosystem
Bestinet, founded in 2008 and building on proposals dating back to 2001, undertook a privately funded national initiative to develop a world-class digital solution at zero cost to the government or taxpayer.
FWCMS is a 15-module, cross-border governance platform – the first of its kind globally – integrating 15 labour-sending countries, over 232 accredited medical centres, and all relevant Malaysian government agencies into a unified digital ecosystem.
The system was developed following more than 500 formal engagements with Malaysian government agencies. It was recommended by the International Labour Organization and Special Branch Malaysia, and designed in accordance with ILO principles and policies, as well as those of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The system received formal government approval in 2018 and a concession agreement in 2024 following a comprehensive inter-ministerial evaluation, including by the Public Private Partnership Unit (Ukas).
Assertions that the fee structure represents an increase are factually incorrect. Following negotiations with Ukas, the revised fee absorbed previously separate services, such as the Temporary Employment Visit Pass (PLKS), Immigration Security Clearance (ISC), and medical screening – overall representing a significant reduction.
Bestinet also provided its services without collecting fees from 2012 to 2018.
Turap: the next frontier in worker protection
Village-level recruitment in source countries remains largely ungoverned. To Bestinet’s knowledge, no government or employer body anywhere in the world currently possesses effective mechanisms to oversee, verify, or regulate this layer, where the most acute exploitation of migrant workers occurs.
Turap – the Universal Recruitment Advanced Platform – is the first platform of its kind globally, developed based on nearly 40 years of cumulative industry experience.
It is designed to complement, not replace, FWCMS, the Malaysian Immigration System (MyIMMS), the National Integrated Immigration System (NIISe), and other government systems, operating at a distinct upstream layer to eliminate recruitment exploitation at its source.
Government decisions followed due process
Every government decision on FWCMS – from the 2012 proof of concept, through mandatory adoption in 2015, to the 2024 formal contract – resulted from rigorous, multi-layered institutional processes, including inter-ministerial consultations, security assessments, international advisory input, and over a decade of evidence-based performance review.
Any characterisation of these decisions as irregular, improper, or influenced by extraneous factors undermines the institutional integrity of Malaysia’s executive decision-making.
Bestinet has contractually committed to transferring full ownership of FWCMS to the government upon completion of the contract.
Who is behind negative narratives and why
The current criticism does not reflect good-faith policy discourse. FWCMS eliminated billions in annual leakage previously flowing through informal intermediaries. Turap threatens to eliminate what remains of that network.
Certain public figures have used these national infrastructure systems as instruments of political positioning, making false allegations based on selective and decontextualised data.
Their opposition is not principled governance advocacy. It is a defence of a financial ecosystem that has profited for decades from the exploitation of vulnerable migrant workers.
Bestinet will take all necessary legal action against false, misleading, or defamatory statements.
Global recognition
FWCMS, among other local and international awards, received the United Nations World Summit Award (WSA) in 2017 in Vienna, Austria, competing against entries from over 180 countries.
It is widely regarded as one of the world’s most prestigious recognitions for digital innovation aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
More than a decade after its implementation, no comparable system exists anywhere in the world.
We built it. Malaysia needs it.
Bestinet has invested more than two decades and substantial private capital, without government funding, in transforming Malaysia’s foreign worker management ecosystem.
The facts are clear. The evidence is irrefutable. The global recognition is documented. Bestinet will not be deterred by parties whose interests depend on a return to fraud, trafficking, and exploitation.
Bryan Lui and Harnesh Bhullar are advocates and solicitors.
The views expressed are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.