Malaysia Plans to Send Skilled Workers to Japan Under New Visa Scheme

Malaysia is preparing to send skilled workers to Japan under the new visa programme which the country launched on 1 April 2019.

Under the programme, Malaysia will be the 10th nation authorised to supply workers to Japan after the Philippines, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Vietnam, Nepal and Mongolia.

According to Kyodo News, Malaysia and Japan are planning to reach a deal as early as July 2019, when Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran visits Tokyo to sign a memorandum of cooperation.

“We are working with the Japanese government to formulate a MOC on sending workers to Japan as they have opened up 14 sectors to foreigners,” a Malaysia government official familiar with the negotiations told Japanese news portal Kyodo News.

“We are expecting to sign it in Japan in July. It’s in the final stages, hopefully, it can be done,” the official said.

The official said that the two parties have not yet agreed on which sectors will be open to Malaysian workers, adding that the scheme could potentially open up 50,000 jobs in Japan for Malaysians.

The official said Putrajaya must assist those willing to go overseas to earn a better salary albeit temporarily. He said research showed Malaysians are delighted at the prospect of earning a higher salary.

Immigration has long been a taboo subject in Japan as many prefer ethnic homogeneity, but the existence of an ageing, shrinking population is disputing such views.

In order to control immigration issues such as worker exploitation, the Japanese government has set up laws ordering employers to pay wages equivalent to or higher than those of Japanese nationals.

Their payment should be made directly to workers’ bank accounts so that the records will serve as evidence they are properly paid.

HR minister defends bid to send skilled labour to Japan

Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran responded to local pushback against a proposal to supply skilled manual labourers to Japan, saying it was meeting the present reality in which over a million Malaysians are believed to already be working abroad.

However, he said Malaysia has not settled the memorandum of cooperation with Japan to provide skilled workers to the latter. “There are approximately one million Malaysians working abroad, 500,000 of whom work in Singapore alone,” Kulasegaran said in a statement.

“In that spirit, it is unfair to deny Malaysians good jobs overseas and it is foolish to think that Malaysians will not seek jobs overseas even if a formal deal was not reached. At least with a formal deal, there could be better protection and monitoring of these Malaysians and their development could also be closely monitored.”

Apart from high wages, the minister asserted that Malaysians working in Japan would gain skills and experience that they could bring back to Malaysia.

He also said they may learn the Japanese work ethic and possibly impart this on future generations of Malaysians upon their return.

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Source: Malay Mail

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