Kuching: The statement issued by the Deputy Minister in the Premier’s Department, YB Datuk Gerawat Gala has failed to answer the most fundamental question raised regarding the Foreign Worker Transformation Approach (FWTA) as to why is the Sarawak Government allowing employers to be burdened with an excessive RM1,854 fee per foreign worker approval without full transparency and accountability?
Unfortunately, the Deputy Minister’s response raises more questions than answers regarding the FWTA arrangement.
Merely stating that the FWTA initiative has gone through “legal, administrative and financial procedures” and received “relevant approvals” does not exempt the Sarawak Government from public scrutiny. Employers and industry players have every right to know how a private company was selected, how the fee structure was determined, and whether the charges imposed are reasonable and justifiable.
The Deputy Minister admitted that the Sarawak Government receives no share of the RM1,854 fee and that the entire amount is paid to the service provider. This admission raises serious concerns.
Why is this company so special that the Sarawak Government is willing to channel the entire RM1,854 collected from employers to FWTA Sdn Bhd or its appointed service provider? What extraordinary expertise, proprietary technology, or irreplaceable capability justifies such an arrangement?
The Sarawak Government is effectively mandating employers to pay RM1,854 for every foreign worker approval, yet shockingly not a single sen goes to the State Government. Instead, the whole amount is directed to a private company. Naturally, employers are entitled to ask why such an exclusive and highly lucrative arrangement has been granted.
The Sarawak Government’s explanation that the fee is used for “operations, maintenance, digital platforms, cybersecurity, human capital and infrastructure” remains vague and unsupported by any detailed cost breakdown. Employers are not asking for slogans about “efficiency” or “transformation”; they are asking for transparency. If the fee is genuinely justified, then publish the breakdown. How much goes towards operations, digital systems, infrastructure and profit?
The Deputy Minister also clarified that only 35,336 Approval in Principle (AP) applications proceeded to payment under FWTA in 2025. Based on the Government’s own figures, this still amounts to approximately RM65.5 million collected in just one year.
This therefore again raises important questions. How is this RM65.5 million being spent? Who audits it? Was there an open tender? Were there competing bids? What benchmarking exercise was conducted to justify RM1,854 as a reasonable fee?
The State Government says FWTA Sdn Bhd was appointed according to procurement procedures and approved by the Government. If that is so, then there should be no difficulty in disclosing the appointment process, scope of work, contract duration and basis of the fee structure.
The Government should not hide behind “commercial confidentiality” when questions of public interest are raised. Transparency should not stop simply because public policy channels millions of ringgit from employers into a private arrangement.
It is disappointing that the Government chose to accuse critics of “politicisation” instead of answering legitimate questions. Demanding accountability for a system that extracts tens or hundreds of millions of ringgit from Sarawak employers is not politicisation. It is responsible oversight and the duty of elected representatives.
If the FWTA initiative is genuinely transparent, efficient and beneficial to Sarawak, then Sarawak Government should have no hesitation in publishing the contract, disclosing the fee breakdown, revealing the procurement details and explaining why FWTA Sdn Bhd was granted an arrangement where the entire RM1,854 fee is channelled to them.
The people of Sarawak and employers deserve clear answers.
Violet Yong
ADUN for Pending
21 May 2026
