Malaysia is one of Asia's biggest employers of foreign labour. But recently, cases of deaths, abuse and forced labour have come to light. What is going on? Who is protecting these migrant workers?
Abdul Rahman Ibrahim, parliamentary secretary at the Home Affairs Ministry,
said the there were sectors of the economy that depended on the Bangladesh workforce,
the state news agency Bernama reported.
<p>"The government also took into consideration Malaysia’s economic contribution
to the people of that country, so that’s why we considered the decision,"
he said.</p>
<p>The government announced in July 2005 that the freeze on Bangladeshi workers
in place since 1996 would be lifted this year.</p>
<p>Labourers from Bangladesh once represented a huge chunk of the cheap labour
force in Malaysia but their intake was halted after they were blamed for crime
and social issues including the abandonment of Malaysian wives.</p>
<p><b>Over-reliance</b></p>
<p>Abdul Rahman said last year that the country had a total outflow of RM18 billion
(US$5.14 billion) due to its force of some foreign workers which currently number
some 1.8 million.</p>
<p>The number of foreign workers in Malaysia is expected to reach 5.0 million
by 2020.</p>
<p>Malaysia relies on foreign workers to power its construction and agriculture
sectors but the government is ambivalent about their presence, fearing an over-reliance
on cheap labour as well as the impact on Malaysian society.- AFP
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