KUALA LUMPUR: Around six lakh Bangladeshi migrants in Malaysia would be benefited as the Southeast Asian country’s government has asked employers to pay the levy of foreign workers.
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on Friday said the employers would no longer be able to deduct the wages of their foreign workers for the levy or tax on their monthly income.
“Malaysian employers will be responsible for paying the levy of foreign workers beginning Sunday,” reported The Star of Malaysia, quoting the minister. The foreign workers employed in construction, manufacturing and service sectors were paying levy of Malaysian Ringgit 1,850 or equivalent to Tk 32,713, while workers in plantation and other sectors were paying MR 600 or equivalent Tk 10,610 annually since 2013.
“Foreign workers used to pay the levy since 2013. But employers in some companies paid the levy on behalf of the workers,” Sayedul Islam, labour counsellor at the Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, told The Daily Star over phone.
About the Malaysian government’s decision, he, however, said they had heard about it but had not received any official letter yet. Ahmad Zahid, who is also the home minister, said the decision would be in effect from the application stage to the worker going back home.
However, the Malaysian employers reacted harshly over the government’s new decision. Malay Businessmen and Industrialists Association of Malaysia President Datuk Moehamad Izat Emir yesterday urged the government to explain the rationale behind the decision.
But Malaysian Agricultural Producers Association Executive Director Mohamad Audong said the changes in the levy payment under the EMC would not be a problem for the plantation sector. He said Mapa member companies had been paying the levy for years although they had the option to deduct the foreign workers’ wages. “We really need foreign workers … it is our responsibility to look after them,” he added.
Earlier, the Malaysian deputy prime minister said about 2.1 million registered foreign workers would benefit from the decision. Malaysia suspended recruitment of Bangladeshi workers on February 19 last year, a day after the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Dhaka and Kula Lumpur.
