Build more CLQs to avoid accusations of inhumane worker treatment: Kian Ming

KUALA LUMPUR – DAP’s Ong Kian Ming today called for more centralised labour quarters (CLQ) to be set up to ensure ongoing compliance with international labour laws and to avoid further accusations of worker mistreatment within the manufacturing sector.

He said these CLQs, like the one recently launched in Kg Baru Balakong which is able to house up to six workers in each of its 598 units, would most importantly comply with the Workers’ Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act (Act 446).

“This is an important step in ensuring the proper treatment of workers in the manufacturing sector so that accusations that these workers – especially foreign workers – are being mistreated and housed in inhumane conditions can be minimised,” he wrote in a statement today.

Ong further stressed the importance of such CLQs as several local manufacturing companies were either penalised by authorities or removed as suppliers for allegedly inhumane workers’ housing conditions.

He then encouraged the setting up of these CLQs in other states like Negri Sembilan, Melaka, Johor, and Perak, which like Selangor, are home to several large industrial estates housing a high number of workers.

“The building of such CLQs on industrial land will not only be more convenient for the factory workers in terms of reducing travelling time to work but is also less intrusive for the local resident population which may object to such CLQs being built in existing residential areas,” he said.

Additionally, Ong also called on the federal government to hold discussions with the respective state governments to identify areas where incentives like tax exemptions can be offered to the private sector.

“State governments should work closely together with the federal government to identify tax and other incentives to encourage greater investment by the private sector in the building and management of such CLQs on industrial land for the manufacturing sector,” he added.

In the last quarter of 2021, two local latex glove manufacturers, Supermax Corp Bhd and Smart Glove, saw their shipments blocked by The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency for alleged forced labour.

Recently, Sime Darby Plantation Bhd’s palm oil and palm oil-based products were withheld at several points of entry in the US by the CBP which accused the local company of using convict, forced or indentured labour. – The Vibes, February 3, 2022