Foreign workers not allowed to work as restaurant frontline staff
Esther Landau
New Straits Times19 March 2018
KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign workers are not allowed to work in the frontline at restaurants, says Immigration Department director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali.
He said they were only allowed to work as cooks and must have working permits according to the Immigration Act 1959/63.
“However, our daily inspections reveal that there are still many foreign workers working as frontliners, which is clearly not allowed according to the department’s rules and regulations.
“This is really worrying and disappointing because some employers are still not obeying the rules,” he said at International Islamic University Malaysia’s Global Forum: Premier Lecture and Handover of Adjunct Professor Appointments today.
He was commenting on the closure of restaurants due to a shortage of foreign workers, which was reported on an online portal recently.
It was also reported that the shortage of workers was due to the Immigration Department’s strict enforcement against hiring foreign workers.
Foreign workers are not allowed to work in the frontline at restaurants, says Immigration Department director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali. Pic by NSTP/ASYRAF HAMZAH
Associations representing 20,000 restaurant owners across the country have submitted a memorandum to the government requesting a solution to the labour shortage.
Mustafar said the government implemented the rehiring programme through the department to deal with the problem.
He said employers could hire foreign workers through the programme.
“As of February this year, there are a total of 1,758,238 workers who are still employed. From the statistic, a total of 71,515 workers serve in the restaurant sector.
“From February to December last year, a total of 744,942 illegal immigrants were registered under 83,919 employers under the rehiring programme,” he added.
He said, from Jan 1 to March 16, the department had conducted 3,844 enforcement operations nationwide, inspected 47,129 foreign immigrants and arrested 10,378 for various offences.
He said 250 employers were also arrested.
Mustafar was appointed as adjunct professor at International Islamic University Malaysia’s (IIUM) Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyah of Law.
IIUM rector Prof Datuk Seri Dr Zaleha Kamarudin handed the appointment letter to him.
Mustafar said his appointment as a part-time lecturer was an honour and a demonstration of trust and recognition by the university of the Immigration Department.
Zaleha said the appointment was based on Mustafar’s wide experience and expertise in the legal sector. © New Straits Times Press
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