Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Dato Wee Ka Siong was quoted in yesterday’s Chinapress Daily as saying that the intention of the government to implement foreign workers permit renewal via MyEG is to control the number of foreign workers in the country with effective collection of statistics on the inflow and outflow of foreign workers.
He was reported to say that the number of foreign workers has exceeded the Indian population in the country, and if the government does not have a good system to monitor and control the number of foreign workers, in future, the number of foreign workers may outnumber the Chinese population in the country.
Wee’s remarks are most puzzling and illogical.
Firstly, due to the massive criticisms against the closure of the immigration counters to handle the foreign worker permit renewal in January, which was later reopened, the Home Ministry has on Jan 10 issued a statement to explain that the move to implement online renewal of the foreign worker temporary permit via MyEG was to check abuse by various parties and to shorten the application process to one or two days compared to two to four weeks and to reduce crowding at the Immigration Department’s counters.
The Home Ministry did not mention the reason mentioned by Wee. So why did Wee suddenly come up with his own new explanation?
Secondly, even if a good online system is needed to monitor inflow and outflow of foreign workers in the country, why can’t the immigration department handle it? Why is it necessary to outsource such service and add burden to the employers?
Wee must therefore explain his motive for coming up with such a new reason for implementing online renewal via MyEG.
Was he trying to justify the outsourcing of the permit renewal which has met massive criticisms with the “fear factor”, that is, the number of foreign workers in the country can outweigh the Chinese community.
The government definitely has a responsibility to monitor and control the number of foreign workers in the country. But why did Wee have to put the issue in racial context, comparing the foreign worker population with the Indian and Chinese population?
Although the government has allowed the counter services to continue after the initial extended deadline has expired end of last month, employers are still concerned if the counters will be permanently reopened.
Instead of coming up with illogical ground to justify the outsourcing move, Wee should understand the employers’ concern and be a voice for them, rather than be a voice for MyEG.
Teresa Kok