KUALA LUMPUR: Screening of foreign workers issued biometric identification cards will just be a smartphone away when the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS) comes onstream.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told reporters at Parliament’s lobby yesterday that once the biometric identification system was implemented, the government would not compromise on foreign workers who fail to present the card to the authorities during screening operations.
The smartphones will be equipped with applications for the task.
“We will immediately deport them back to their country of origin, following which they will not be permitted to enter Malaysia again. Under the current system, they can change their names when back in their own countries but the biometric system will end this.
“We have received the consent of the embassies of source countries of foreign workers to deport such errant foreign workers without any compromise,” he said, adding that the biometric card now was at the testing phase.
Ahmad Zahid said the cost for the card which would be issued by the Immigration Department would have to be borne by the foreign workers and their employers.
He said the implementation of the biometric card might also be extended to foreign students in the country if its use among foreign workers proved to be a success.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Zahid said 117 companies were booked for offences related to hiring of foreign workers from September 2011 to date.
Earlier, when replying to a question from Fong Kui Lun (DAP-Bukit Bintang) in the Dewan Rakyat on corruption involving the recruitment of foreign workers, Ahmad Zahid stressed that he would not tolerate this.
He also told the Dewan Rakyat that as of June 30, a total of 2,116,998 foreign workers in the country held valid and active Temporary Work Permits.
The number included illegal foreign workers granted amnesty under the Home Ministry’s 6P progamme to weed out illegal immigrants.
The breakdown according to sector is manufacturing (733,200), construction (425,532), plantation (347,149), services (251,373), domestic help (180,370) and agriculture (179,374). By nationalities Indonesians comprised the bulk at 935,058 workers followed by Nepalese (359,023), Bangladeshis (319,822), Myanmars (174,477) and Indians (117,697).
On reports alleging that the United States runs a monitoring station in its Kuala Lumpur embassy to tap telephones and monitor communications networks in the country, Ahmad Zahid said he would meet Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman to discuss the matter. — Bernama