KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 21): Manufacturers in Malaysia are unhappy with the sudden mandatory use of MyEG Services Bhd's online services to renew foreign workers' permits.

In a statement, Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) vice president Davies Danavaindran said manufacturers were not consulted and not given adequate notification prior to the implementation of the online renewal programme by MyEG (fundamental score: 1.5; valuation score: 2.6).

“While on-line submission is a move in the right direction towards greater convenience, transparency and efficiency, stakeholders should have been consulted prior to the implementation and most importantly, there should be adequate notification to allow employers to familiarise themselves with online submission and first-time users to get the registration process completed before the implementation date.

"FMM, therefore, strongly urges the government to reconsider its policy decision on the online renewal process to give employers time to familiarize themselves with the system and for MY E.G. to iron out all teething problems," Davies said.

Futhermore, he said MyEG's RM38 service charge per renewal was not justifiable as employers were already paying a processing fee of RM125 to the Immigration Department.

Instead, cost savings to the Immigration Department from closing counter services should be passed on to employers, according to Davies.

Davies said the industry should not bear the cost for MyEG to undertake compilation, verification, maintenance, updating and analysis of database for legal and illegal foreign workers, which come under the RM125 fee.

He also complained about MyEG's capacity to handle its online system as many employers were unable to access the website or the site crashes during the renewal process.

Calls to MyEG's customer service lines were either unanswered or the officers were unable to assist, he claimed.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)