An online foreign workforce management system will be applied in Malaysia to reduce the time required to hand-in recruitment documents, according to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. During the meeting of the Cabinet Committee for Foreign Workers and Illegal Immigrants held on August 18, t he minister highlighted that the conventional application takes employers three to six months to receive approval from the ministry’s One-Stop Approval Centre, adding that online submissions would be approved within 48 hours if they meet all standards set by the ministry. System trials have proven effective, Zahid said, given that the single window synchronisation system is created to ensure no overlaps or cross-communication between ministries. Recruiters will be asked to fill in online forms while the government will consider the requisite number of foreign workers. Relevant ministries will contact supplying countries for list of registered labourers and pre-conditions such as workers’ biometrics. This will cut employer recruitment costs, as the Government will provide the service free of charge. The meeting also decided on the responsibility of employers to provide foreign workers with accommodations which meet minimum standards set by the Government. A pilot housing project was carried out in Pengerang, Johor state, catering for up to 10,000 labourers. Human resource imports have been high in the country, as local residents are not interested in difficult, dangerous and dirty (3D) jobs. According to the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC), some 7 million foreign labourers had worked in Malaysia by June 2015 but only 2.2 million of them were employed legally.-VNA