The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) has responded to a migrant activist’s concern that giving employers a six-month grace period to comply with labour laws after they have brought in migrant workers risked exploitation.

“While the government has given a grace period to comply with the pre-conditions that have been excluded at the initial application stage to expedite the approval process, we believe by the time the workers are mobilised from their source country, which could easily take more than three months, employers would have...