Charles Santiago
The Ministry of Human Resources (MoHR) claims no decision has been made on the migrant recruitment system.
But then, the human resources minister praised Bestinet for its existing systems and said he saw no issues in appointing Bestinet Sdn Bhd to develop and manage a foreign worker recruitment system by mid-2026.
A minister who has apparently endorsed a vendor cannot credibly lead a fair evaluation of alternatives.
Nobody is addressing an obvious problem either. Bestinet’s existing Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS) contract runs until 2031.
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If The Universal Recruitment Advanced Platform (Turap) is adopted now, will the government compensate Bestinet for the remaining years? That would mean a potential billion-ringgit payout, on top of the RM381m already paid last year.
It gets worse. The government is already paying HeiTech Padu over RM892m to build NIISe , the National Integrated Immigration System (NIISe)[a contract later raised to over a billion ringgit]. This system is also meant to handle foreign worker management from around 2028 onwards.
So why are we buying Turap from Bestinet at all? How many systems must the public pay for?
Billions are being splashed on duplicate systems from one private vendor. Meanwhile, households are struggling with rising prices, which are only going to get worse.
Where are our priorities? This is public money that should be spent on people, not platforms that keep enriching the same hands.
What Malaysia needs is an open, transparent and competitive procurement process – one consistent with the reforms Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has promised.
The government must establish an independent panel headed by Hishamudin Yunus, a former Court of Appeal judge and current Suhakam chairman, to oversee the process and show that reform under this government actually means something.
Charles Santiago is the former MP for Klang.
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
