ID cards to monitor foreign workers

KUALA LUMPUR: The Construction Labour Exchange Centre Bhd (CLAB) is one way to screen and document migrant workers.

CLAB chief executive officer Abdul Rafik Abdul Rajis said the centre would recruit foreigners who want to work in the construction sector before assigning them to local contractors.

"CLAB is an authorised agency under the Construction Industry Development Board which supplies foreign workers to construction companies that have fewer than 100 workers," he said.

CLAB scrutinises the background of the applicant company before deploying their employees.

"We will look into the company's financial strength and also the accommodation it provides to ensure that our employees' wellbeing are taken care of," he said.

CLAB has developed a special identification card to facilitate closer monitoring of its workers.

"As the pioneer company which provides biometric cards to their foreign workers in this country, CLAB has received encouraging response from their stakeholders," said Rafik.

Introduced in June this year, the cards are equipped with a Quick Response Code (QR code) as used by Android phones and every detail of the worker and employer can be read.

"Their permit status, their salary and even the name of their employer can be accessed from the card by only using a smartphone which is linked directly with our online system," he said, adding that the cards are given free to their employees and contractors.

"Even the embassies are happy with the cards as they can regularly monitor whether their citizens have been receiving the right treatment here," he said.

But Rafik emphasised that the card is not a replacement for their passports.

"We issue the cards because we know that some of them are working in extreme weather conditions which make it unsuitable for them to carry along their passports."

Workers get their cards within two weeks after obtaining their work permits which CLAB arranged for them.

"We hope that by the end of this month, all our workers would get their own identification cards," said Rafik.

CLAB currently has about 20,000 active workers of whom 70 per cent are Indonesians.

Rafik also hoped that the government would give the centre an opportunity to help the foreign workers caught working illegally in the construction industry.

"Allow us to help these victims become legalised. We are willing to hire them by applying for their work permits," he said.

Dino Nurwahyudin, counsellor for consular affairs at the Indonesian embassy here, agrees.

"Many development projects still need these workers. Let the government take over and become their employer, and not the private sector."

Read more: ID cards to monitor foreign workers - Central - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/streets/central/id-cards-to-monitor-foreign-workers-1.397288#ixzz2kUUozGOn