MALAYSIA: PBS against increase on foreign worker levy.

By Queville To

KOTA KINABALU: Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) has warned the federal government that its decision to increase the levy on foreign workers could backfire and open the door to more illegal workers.
The Sabah Barisan Nasional component party is instead backing a legalisation exercise as a solution to the illegal foreign worker problem in Sabah.

“It is better to regularise these workers officially,” said PBS information chief Johnny Mositun in a statement issued yesterday.

Mositun, who is also a state assembly deputy speaker, was commenting on the announcement by Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin that the levy on foreign workers would be increased next year.
He stressed that PBS' call to regularise foreign workers already in Sabah should not be construed as welcoming illegal immigrants.

“Obviously, we do not need the illegal immigrants. Read more

INDONESIA: UPDATE 1-Indonesia's Mandiri to open remittance unit in Malaysia

JAKARTA, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Indonesia's Bank Mandiri (BMRI.JK) will open a new unit in Kuala Lumpur dedicated to collecting remittances from the millions of Indonesians working in Malaysia, a senior executive said late on Thursday.

Thomas Arifin, Director for International Banking, said the new unit would help Mandiri, Indonesia's biggest bank, increase its fee-based income.

"The bank will initially cover millions of Indonesian workers who are working in Malaysia by progressively extending the number of outlets," Arifin said in a text message sent to Reuters. Read more

BANGLADESH: Fears for social stability as migrant workers return

DHAKA, 26 March 2009 (IRIN) - Abdul Monsur has good reason to worry. After losing his job as a pipe welder in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) he was deported to Bangladesh.

[See also: BANGLADESH: Global financial crunch set to cut remittances]

“I sold my land and borrowed almost 1.75 lakh taka (US$2,550) from my relatives to get this job,” the father-of-four, who paid more than $3,500 to a local job recruiter six months earlier to secure the job, told IRIN.

“I still haven’t been able to pay off the debt,” he said.

Such stories are not uncommon. Layoffs and forced repatriation of Bangladeshi workers from the Middle East and Malaysia (the two primary destinations for Bangladeshi workers) are increasing at an alarming rate. Read more

MALAYSIA: Maxis unveils money remittance service

1st June, 2007
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s leading telecommunication services provider Maxis Communications Bhd aspires to become a strong service provider for foreign workers in Malaysia by end of this year, its chief executive officer Sandip Das said yesterday.
Speaking at the launching of the world’s first international mobile to mobile money transfer service, he said the new service from Maxis and Philippines’ Globe Telecom, will enable Filipino workers to perform cross-border money transfer from Ringgit to Pesos instantly.
Globe Telecom is Philippines’s second largest telecommunication services provider. [Read more]