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

In a statement on Tuesday, 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 online 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 familiarise themselves with the system and for MyEG to iron out all teething problems,” Davies said.

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

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

Davies said the industry should not bear the cost for MyEG to undertake compilation, verification, maintenance, updating and analysis of the 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 crashed during the renewal process.

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

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. Go to www.theedgemarkets.com for more details on a company’s financial dashboard.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 22, 2015.