The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) said a government task force that includes local councils could promote better cooperation in managing quarantine centres and housing for foreign workers.
FMM president Soh Thian Lai said that employers face problems in finding additional space for accommodation, and in getting approval of buildings used as worker dormitories.
“Many local councils do not have standard guidelines, procedures and definite timelines to assist the industry with the required approvals or endorsements needed,” he said.
The suggestion about involving local councils came from Klang MP Charles Santiago who said last week that a task force led by local councils should be set up with employers and professional groups to help plan, monitor and implement Covid-19 testing and recovery within the jurisdiction of the councils.
Soh said FMM had rejected a government proposal that employers should manage quarantine centres for workers. “Quarantine centres for Covid-19 cannot be entrusted to anyone who is not trained,” he said.
He said FMM had urged the human resources ministry to allow an additional 12 months’ grace for companies to comply with the law on minimum standards of worker housing.
He said “employers are doing their best to comply” but there was a lack of hostels and centralised living quarters to meet the conditions on living space for each worker.
“Industries do not have the capacity to immediately build their own hostels as it would involve having to source for the land, obtain all the necessary approvals and construct,” he said.
Malaysian Employers Federation executive director Shamsuddin Bardan said the local councils should be more flexible and facilitative in the process of allowing conversion of such spaces for dwelling given that there is a dearth of unoccupied commercial buildings everywhere.
“The requirement to obtain consent from surrounding residents for employers to place their foreign workers in an accommodation facility is discriminatory in nature and should be reviewed,” he added.