Migrant workers going home at the end of a work day. Bestinet Sdn Bhd has come under scrutiny after it was awarded a contract to handle the biometric health checks of foreign workers. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, January 20, 2015.Tan Sri Azmi Khalid, one of the directors of the company caught in a storm over the controversial biometric health checks for migrant workers, insists that everything is above board and dismisses allegations that national security is at risk.
Azmi, who is a former home minister, is one of four people listed as directors of Bestinet Sdn Bhd which was awarded the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS) contract that came into effect last week.
Critics, including foreign governments, have blasted the biometric system, citing added costs and security concerns over worker information.
"There is no hanky-panky here," Azmi told The Malaysian Insider, referring to the private IT firm.
However, the former Umno supreme council member and Public Accounts Committee chairman refused to elaborate, saying that he would address the issue in the near future.
The other directors are Datuk Tengku Omar Tengku Bot, Rathakrishnan Vellaisamy and Aminul Islam Abdul Nor.
The FWCMS is a website handled by Bestinet which will also handle applications for foreign worker quotas, their electronic temporary working permits (ePLKS), and insurance, among others.
But countries, such as Nepal, which sends hundreds of migrant workers to Malaysia daily has expressed concern that workers would have to pay extra costs and has yet to give its final approval for the system.
Recruitment companies in the Himalayan country have declared that they would halt sending new workers to Malaysia until the Nepalese government makes a final decision.
PKR lawmakers, including Semambu assemblyman Lee Chean Chung, have raised concerns over the monopoly of the system, saying that the information stored was related to border control and immigration, which was sensitive and could threaten the security and sovereignty of the country.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has been asked to explain why the project was awarded to Bestinet, and the necessity of outsourcing it to a private firm.
They also demanded that he revealed the value of the contract, whether it was awarded through open tender, and how much the government was paying for Bestinet's services.
A check on the FWCMS website confirmed that as of January 15, all employers must manage their workers' health checks and VDR applications online.
Lee, who revealed the names of the directors, said that he was saddened that the directors of Bestinet include prominent politicians and former government top officers.
He said outsourcing government functions should not be viewed as a retiring gold mine for them, what more when it concerned matters pertaining to national security.
"FWCMS is monopolising the issuance of Calling Visa and to a certain extent, the medical check-up at source countries. The monopoly will create a big room for market manipulation and control of access to the market, which itself is a form of monopoly too," he told The Malaysian Insider.
The biometric system was introduced to prevent fraudulent medical reporting and the Immigration Department has said that it would be implemented in stages beginning with workers from Nepal and Bangladesh. – January 20, 2015.
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