Nazri : New levy ruling postponed due to unresolved issues

The implementation of the policy requiring employers to pay foreign workers' levy has been postponed to next year due to unresolved issues with the countries involved, Tourism and Culture Minister Mohamed Nazri Aziz said today.

"There are still issues which have not been ironed out, like requirements from the Bangladesh government," he said after officiating the Cafe Malaysia exhibition in Kuala Lumpur.

If the policy involved Malaysian workers, he said, it would be much easier to form and implement a policy.

"But because this involves workers from other countries, they have their own requirements, which is only natural.

"It is their citizens, they are concerned," he said.

Yesterday, Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai was quoted saying that the cabinet had agreed to postpone the move which required employers to pay their foreign workers' levy to next year.

Prior to the cabinet meeting, however, Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed had told Malaysiakini that the levy, which comes under the Employer Mandatory Commitment (EMC),  would not be postponed.
 

[more to come]

-Mkini