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?
"Once again I call upon the undocumented Filipinos in Malaysia to avail
of the Malaysian immigration amnesty and cooperate with our embassy officials
who are ready to provide assistance and arrange for the repatriation of Filipino
amnesty seekers," Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said.
<p>Filipinos in Malaysia should "take advantage of the situation now,"
Romulo said in a statement after the extension of a conditional amnesty for
illegal immigrants indefinitely that was announced on Wednesday.</p>
<p>The amnesty had put off at the last minute a threatened nationwide sweep in
Malaysia to arrest illegal migrants.</p>
<p><b>8,000 Filipinos had left</b></p>
<p>Malaysian Home Minister Azmi Khalid said the decision to extend the amnesty
was taken at a cabinet meeting today, based on a written request from Indonesian
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and taking into consideration the damage
suffered by Indonesia in the December tsunami.</p>
<p>The Philippine government had also asked Malaysia to extend the amnesty by
a month to accommodate the estimated 170,000 Filipinos who failed to take the
chance to leave the country legally.</p>
<p>Romulo said so far 8,000 Filipinos had availed of Manila’s policy for voluntary
repatriation under Malaysia’s amnesty programme but he did not say how many
more undocumented Filipinos were still left in Malaysia. – AFP
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