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?
With work now available in abundance from new mega projects there, the
workers realise that they can earn as much in India without having to leave their
families or risk facing abuse from unscrupulous agents and employers.
<P>Factory
worker N. Aravindhan, 30, was clearly confident about his ability to find work
back home as the situation had changed tremendously from the time he left home
five years ago.</P><P>“India is now booming,” he said, adding that on
his last trip back home to Tamil Nadu he had even managed to attend a couple of
job interviews.</P><P>He was among the hundreds who had gone to the Johor Indian
Chamber of Commerce and Industry to obtain consular services from Indian High
Commission officials who were here on a two-day visit.</P><P>Aravindhan said that
with the construction of the multi-billion-ringgit 6,000km highway connecting
Kashmir and Kanyakumari, for example, jobs were readily available in a myriad
of sectors including construction and manufacturing.</P><P>“Every day, we
see companies advertising jobs in the newspapers as more factories from abroad,
including the United States, come to invest in India,” he said, adding that
he hoped to return home in about five months as he missed his family.</P><P>Another
worker, P. Sivakumar, 30, said that he, too, hoped to return to India in July,
as he was certain he would be able to earn as much back home.</P><P>“I would
go back today but I’m staying for a couple of months to repay the RM8,000
loan I took to come here,” he said, adding that he was fed up with the empty
promises made by agents who had duped him with attractive offers.</P><P>Indian
High Commission attaché (Consular) N. Lingi Chetty agreed that job opportunities
in India were improving with the increase in economic activities.</P><P>“The
charm to go to a foreign country is now much lower,” he said.</P><P>He also
noted a shift in trends, with agents now attempting to recruit workers from North
India instead of South India where there was better awareness about working conditions
in Malaysia.</P><P>Some 50,000 labourers from India work in Malaysia, with a sizeable
number more illegally, while the number of skilled migrants is estimated at between
15,000 and 20,000.</P><P><I>Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/4/3/nation/17322840&sec=nation</I>
Address: Wisma MTUC,10-5, Jalan USJ 9/5T, 47620 Subang Jaya,Selangor | Tel: 03-80242953 | Fax: 03-80243225 | Email: sgmtuc@gmail.com.com