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?
"It calls for the adoption of suitable laws to cater for the minimum labour
rights of foreign workers. Alternatively, it (the host nation) must provide
for the extension of existing laws applicable to domestic workers to the foreign
workers as well, insofar as the circumstances may permit," he said.
<p>Sultan Azlan Shah, who was a former Chief Justice of Malaya, said this when
opening the three day Law Association for Asia and the Pacific (Lawasia)’s Labour
Law conference themed "Mobility of Labour in the Lawasia Region — The
Legal and Social Problems of Migrant Labour".</p>
<p>Lawasia is a professional association of representatives of bar councils, law
associations, individual lawyers, law firms and corporations from the Asia Pacific
region.</p>
<p>The members of Lawasia are Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, China, Fiji,
Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand,
Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Russia, Samoa, Singapore, Sri Lanka,
Thailand and Vietnam.</p>
<p>Sultan Azlan Shah said a foreign labour recipient country was obliged to adopt
an enlightened and egalitarian policy towards its foreign labour.</p>
<p>"Within the bounds of realism, it calls for a non-discriminatory approach.
It should aspire towards a policy of equality of terms and conditions of employment
for both foreign and local workers, working at the same level and on the same
post.</p>
<p>"The host country should ever be vigilant against the exploitation of
foreign labour. Foreign labour should not become an euphemism for some type
of modernised bonded labour akin to compulsive labour," he added.</p>
<p>Presently, there are 1.8 million foreign workers in Malaysia with Indonesian
accounting for 1.1 million followed by those from Nepal, India, Myanmar, Vietnam
and Bangladesh.</p>
<p>The manufacturing sector has the highest concentration of foreign labour with
614,245 workers, followed by agriculture (372,007 workers), domestic help (317,
391), construction (278,102) and services (159,977).</p>
<p>The Sultan said these figures did not include the upper bracket expatriate
staff engaged by local companies and banks for their special skills and expertise.</p>
<p>"The second feature is that official statistics on foreign labour would
not include the undocumented workers. Such workers fall under a different category
altogether for statistical purposes," he said.</p>
<p>Sultan Azlan Shah, who had also served as Lord President of the then Federal
Court, pointed out that the mass movement of labour and the opportunities to
work in a foreign country spawned two distinct problems, namely illegal workers
and unscrupulous labour contractors who organised the illegal importation of
foreign labour and the employers who employed them to cut cost.</p>
<p>He said while illegal labour threatened the social and economic fabric of society,
it fell outside the umbrella of the protection and safeguards offered by labour
and health legislation.</p>
<p>"It would be a mistake, however, to treat the illegal or undocumented
worker as just an immigration problem. The greater wrong is done by the domestic
establishments that employ them as a source of cheap labour and therefore place
them outside the purview of the law," Sultan Azlan Shah said.</p>
<p>He said the solution to the problem had to be attended to at both ends, where
the labour exporting country had a system that enabled undocumented workers
to leave its shores and the recipient nation that unwittingly allowed these
illegal workers to enter its borders to work.</p>
<p>He also said the repatriation of illegal or undocumented foreign workers had
to be handled humanely with due regard to civilised standards of treatment.</p>
<p>"It is important that a viable system be put in place to regulate the
flow of foreign labour across borders and to ensure the documentation of every
worker.</p>
<p>"Secondly, at the threshold stage is the overriding question of the health
of imported worker. It is a concern that should preoccupy the attention of the
authorities at both the departure and entry points. In the main is the concern
over the spread and transmission of communicable diseases such as tuberculosis
and the like," he added. — BERNAMA
Address: Wisma MTUC,10-5, Jalan USJ 9/5T, 47620 Subang Jaya,Selangor | Tel: 03-80242953 | Fax: 03-80243225 | Email: sgmtuc@gmail.com.com