Human Resources Minister Said Act 446 Was Not Suspended

The Ministry of Human Resources has dismissed reports by news portals that it has suspended the implementation of the Workers' Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities (Amendment) 2019 (Act 446).

Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M Saravanan stated the act is still in force. According to him, enforcement operations are regularly being carried out to assure compliance with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) of the Covid-19 set.

He said that an online portal's report saying that the Human Resources Ministry has suspended the enforcement of Act 446 is not valid. He also noted that other news portal reports claimed the recent hike in Covid-19 clusters was because of the suspension is untrue and has caused confusion among Malaysians. 

Saravanan said Act 446 came into effect in June 2020, and the ministry gave employers a three-month grace period until August 31, 2020, before fully enforced it in September 2020.

However, after the emergence of the Teratai cluster in early 2021, the minister said the government believes that Act 446 could serve as a mechanism to break the Covid-19 infection chain.

Act 446 ensures the improvement of foreign workers' accommodation facilities.

He said this led to the gazetting of Act 446 amendments as part of the Emergency Ordinance. Saravanan said that the government gazetted Act 446 as part of the Emergency Ordinance on February 25, which also applies to Sabah and Sarawak. 

He added that the ministry implemented Act 446 to address housing management problems through stricter enforcement action. He said the ministry would take action against news portals if it is found that they have published false information on the issue. 

Meanwhile, as of Saturday, the ministry has inspected a total of 17,882 employers nationwide. It found that 6,069 of them have complied with Act 446, while 11,813 did not adhere to the law. 

NUBE's statement

A veteran worker's rights activist said that the suspension of the minimum workers' housing regulation until the end of 2021 is one of the main reasons for the current Covid-19 spike. 

General secretary of the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE), J Solomon, stated that the sharp increase in workplace clusters could be directly attributed to the workers' housing problem.

He questioned the "stark silence" from the human resources minister and urged the government to revoke the suspension and implement the new rules instantly.

He said that the minister's decision to relax the implementation of Act 446 was a huge win for employers but a significant setback for the workers. He added that the ministers and errant employers decided to ignore the need to provide foreign workers with improved living conditions as a crucial strategy to mitigate the pandemic. 

He said four days before the minister announced the suspension of the new rules, deputy minister Awang Hashim stated that many positive Covid-19 cases happened among foreign workers because of, among others, lack of good sanitation facilities and accommodation.

Two months ago, the health ministry stated that manufacturing-related clusters reported the highest number with 80, the second was the construction sector with 53, and the third was the service-related sector with 31.

Source: The Edge Markets, FreeMalaysiaToday

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