The Foreign Worker Transformation Approach (FWTA) in Sarawak is a new initiative by the Sarawak government to digitise the foreign worker management process. It involves a number of components, encompassing labour quota applications, work permit applications and also centralising medical processes.
What are the current challenges in Sarawak?
Currently, as processes are still manual, there are efficiency concerns for labour quota approvals, which can take anywhere between 3 to 9 months. While the process is currently digitised through the MSEN (msen3.sarawak.gov.my) platform, there is still lack of integration between PERKESO, the labour department, and the respective source country embassies to streamline labour quota and job order applications.
The main industries relying on labour quota applications are construction, manufacturing, services (restaurant chefs, spa therapists, and other approved hospitality sectors), agriculture, plantation, and transportation (logistic cargo general workers).
Unlike in West Malaysia, where the medical examinations of foreign workers are handled through a centralised system like FOMEMA (fomema2u.com.my), the East Malaysian states still rely on manual submissions of medical reports. This leads to a major loophole whereby the immigration department has no means to check for the legitimacy of such medical reports - whether they have been performed at all and/ or whether they are performed by reputable medical centers.
Medical examinations can be problematic in source countries, especially if workers are coming from more rural areas where access to reliable x-ray machines are limited and doctors do not have ethical practices and medical reports can be bought. This interconnected series of factors makes it difficult for the East Malaysian states to implement and achieve public health policies pertaining to foreign worker entry.
Finally, the lack of source country foreign mission presence in East Malaysia is also a limiting factor for the full compliance of foreign worker recruitment management. Indonesia, the only approved source country for Sarawak, currently has an Indonesian Consulate in Kuching that carries out multiple consular services and labour related services. However, there is still no representation for the Philippines, Bangladesh, Nepal and India - the new source countries that Sarawak has approved. This can make compliance more challenging for companies in Sarawak.
What are the benefits of the Foreign Worker Transformation Approach (FWTA)?
Efficiency - is definitely the overarching goal of the FWTA. Overall, it is a positive scheme by the Sarawak government to modernise and digitise its government services. This is also in line with the Sarawak government’s goal to digitise 100% of its government services by 2030 in accordance with the Post Covid-19 Development Strategy 2030.
Extracted from the Post Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) Report (page79).
Transparency and accountability are also the additional benefits of digitisation. As Sarawak starts to attract more serious investments, there is a pressing need to ensure a certain level of business friendliness and accountability in terms of access to licensing, hiring expatriates or foreign workers, and other operational needs.
Migratesafe fully supports the Sarawak government’s Foreign Worker Transformation Approach (FWTA) to introduce more transparency, efficiency and accountability in the foreign worker recruitment industry. There will be trickle down effects, which will increase Sarawak's labour market attractiveness to skilled manpower and reduce overall cost of hiring for companies. As in any labour migration market, process delays contribute to the largest cost. Therefore, any momentary increase in cost to implement digitisation frameworks that are there to improve overall efficiency should be welcomed and treated as nominal in the bigger picture of reducing overall costs.
Our final point is, Sarawak, similar to Taiwan, are special administrative regions which need to be afforded continued autonomy over her own immigration management. Retaining immigration autonomy is rooted in the Malaysia Agreement, one that Sarawak relied on heavily when agreeing to be a partner in the new Federation of Malaysia. Therefore, having a separate autonomous immigration entry system is fully justified.
We wish the Sarawak government all the success in the implementation of the new Foreign Worker Transformation Approach (FWTA)!
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