The Human Resources Ministry intends to introduce a social security protection scheme to some 300,000 Malaysians working in Singapore to protect their welfare.

Its minister M Kulasegaran (above) said the ministry was currently awaiting the results of a study on protecting Malaysians working in Singapore by the Social Security Organisation (Socso), which is expected to be completed in April or May, before introducing the scheme.

"This study to protect Malaysians working in Singapore is aimed at finding the pros and cons of the scheme, the benefits and risks they face.

"After that, we (the ministry) will see what we can do," he told reporters after attending the 2020 Socso Chinese New Year 2020 celebration in Johor Bahru this evening.

Also present were Human Resources Ministry secretary-general Amir Omar and Socso chief executive Mohammed Azman Aziz Mohammed.

Prior to this, Kulasegaran said there was a study done on why Malaysians were keen to work in Singapore and the results found that lucrative pay was a major factor for Malaysians working in the republic.

However, he said, the desire of Malaysians to work abroad is not new as there are about a million Malaysians working around the world.

Meanwhile, he said that 45,923 self-employed (OBS) were recorded as having registered and contributed to the Social Security Scheme for the Self Employed (SKSPS) since June 1, 2017, until yesterday.

"When SKSPS was introduced on June 1, 2017, it was enforced on the passenger transportation sector as a start-up, namely, taxi drivers and e-hailing and then bus drivers. Currently, SKSPS covers OBS in 20 informal sectors.

"Although the percentage of participants in SKSPS is relatively small compared to the 2.8 million eligible OBS, the registration and contribution trends are increasing every day," he said.

Earlier, at the event, Kulasegaran also presented donations and hampers to 14 orphans, 13 single mothers and nine recipients of permanent disability benefits.

- Bernama