M Kula Segaran
MIRI: The Human Resources Ministry will not compromise with errant business owners who fail to submit their social compliance audit report when the law comes into force next year.
Its minister M Kula Segaran said the social compliance audit is in line with the international labour laws.
“According to the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons report Malaysia is constantly more or less at the bottom Tier 2 Watch List.
“It is because the operating of our labour law system is bad and not according to the international law,” he stated in his address when officiating at the ‘Forum on Management and Monitoring of the Employment of Non-Resident Employees in Sarawak – Current Labour Policies and Practices’ at Miri Meritz Hotel yesterday.
Kula Segaran explained the ranking on human trafficking watch lists was made based on Malaysia’s bad labour law system which is not according to the international law.
“If this continues to happen, we will face a big problem. It is because falling to a Tier 3 ranking watch list could lead to sanctions on our export products not only by US but also other countries.”
Due to this concern, he said the government introduced social compliance auditing report which required business operators to conduct self-regulatory inspection based on international labour laws.
“Those in oil palm industry are already doing it. Unfortunately, there are still many companies not following the law.
“They (owners) should now start complying with the law by submitting their respective social compliance report immediately.”
On another matter, he said the ministry was facing various challenges on foreign workers and local employment issues.
Some 31 employers from various companies attended the forum which was organised by Sarawak Labour Department.
Present were Pujut assemblyman Dr Ting Tiong Choon, senator Alan Ling and Sarawak Labour Department deputy director Sulaiman Ismail.