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?
The brutalised body of R. Ganesh was flown back to Tamil Nadu state in India,
one day after Malaysian workers observed Labour Day. Three suspects — sauce
factory owner T. Rajan, his wife M. Ganeswari, and their 20-year-old son Vijaar
— have been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The case
will be heard in court on Jun. 5.
Ganesh was reportedly subjected to daily beatings, deprived of food and sufficient
rest, and chained and locked in a dark room. He was eventually dumped in a wooded
area, but was found by villagers who sent him to hospital. He succumbed to his
injuries on Apr. 27. Pictures of his gaunt face, the horrendous bruises on his
back and his protruding rib cage shocked Malaysians. In hospital, he was little
more than a bag of blistered skin and bones.
Ganesh’s may have been an extreme case, but it suggests that a poor regulatory
framework and lack of a support network may have contributed to his ordeal and
his inability to escape from his dire situation. In most cases, the balance
of power in the relationship between employers and migrant workers is extremely
lop-sided; most migrant workers are frequently at the mercy of their employers.
While many Malaysian employers treat their migrant workers with varying degrees
of decency, there are others who are abusive or exploitative towards their workers
who often have little recourse to protection. Work permits often specify or
bind them to a single employer and their passports are usually held by the employers
or agents, further restricting the workers’ freedom of movement.
There are fears that a proposed Foreign Workers’ Bill would restrict foreign
workers to their living quarters, although Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has
given an assurance that the workers’ freedom of movement would not be restricted
under the new law.
Even if they were able to, most migrant workers are reluctant to return home
earlier than scheduled because of the huge loans they have taken to finance
their trip to Malaysia in the first place.
There are other deterrents. If at all they run away from their employers, without
their passports or new work permits they are deemed to be undocumented or “illegal”
migrants. They are then the targets of crackdowns by enforcement personnel or
the uniformed volunteer vigilante group, Rela, which has often been accused
of high-handed methods in rounding up undocumented migrants.
Once caught, undocumented workers are usually sent to immigration detention
centres where conditions leave much to be desired. Courts at these centres sometimes
impose a whipping sentence and those found guilty are eventually deported. All
the immigration centres are reportedly overcrowded. A commissioner with the
Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) told the press that Suhakam’s
recent visit to the Tanah Merah detention centre on the east coast revealed
that over 600 migrant workers were housed in a space meant for 400.
One doctor who has treated undocumented migrants from a detention centre says
some of them suffer from skin diseases and the effects of a poor diet, while
others complain of a lack of sufficient drinking water. This appears to tally
with the findings from interviews with deported workers conducted by rights
group Tenaganita and civil society groups in the workers’ country of origin,
according to the Tenaganita programme coordinator Aegile Fernandez.
In George Town, Penang, a visibly shaken young Indonesian domestic maid, Yati
(not her real name), recently met IPS after running away from her employers
the previous night. ”I was knocked on the head for the slightest mistake I
made,” she said, tearfully. ”I just could not take it any more; so, when I
had the chance, I ran out of the house without thinking of taking any of my
belongings.” Without any money, her several months’ wages still unpaid, no
change of clothing, and most crucially, without her passport, which was probably
held by her employer or the local recruitment agent, Yati was helpless.
Yati eventually found her way to the Indonesian consulate in Penang, where
every month some two to three dozen Indonesian maids seek refuge. The maids
stay at the hostel there until they reach a negotiated settlement with their
employers or are sent home.
The numbers seeking refuge are higher in the national capital.
Fernandez says an average of 150-200 migrant workers, the majority of them
maids, seek refuge at the Indonesian embassy there every month. ”We put them
under the category of ‘bonded labour’ and that falls under the category of trafficking,”
she said. That is a view shared by the Geneva-based International Organisation
of Migration (IOM), an inter-governmental group promoting humane and orderly
migration.
Last year, the IOM began to help repatriate dozens of maids who lacked proper
travel documents and were sheltering at the Indonesian consulate in Penang,
it said in a press briefing note on its website. The IOM considers these women
to be victims of trafficking although they had arrived in Malaysia using official
international routes. The group noted that trafficking victims are exploited
by unscrupulous labour agents and frequently subjected to physical, psychological
and sexual abuse by their employers. ”They are particularly vulnerable when
they enter countries illegally in search of employment, use forged papers or
are forced to handover their legitimate travel documents.” It is not just domestic
maids who are at risk.
An increasing trend is for outsourcing companies in Malaysia to hire workers
from India and Bangladesh on behalf of ‘principal firms’, including multinational
corporations, based in Malaysia. ”But once they come into the country, in many
cases, they are not sent to the principal company and are instead placed in
various locations doing temporary work,” says an activist, who declined to
be identified.
In one case, he said, the workers had to work a few days in an oil palm plantation,
next at a chicken farm, and then at a construction site. ”They were sent all
around the country in groups.” It is a shattering experience for these workers,
many of whom had taken loans ranging from 8,000 ringgit to 13,000 ringgit. (2,300-3,800
US dollars), often selling their homes and land to finance their trip here,
he said.
For her part, Yati, the runaway maid, is not interested in staying back to
claim her unpaid wages. ”I just want to go home to my family” — even if it
means going home empty-handed. (END/2007)
Source: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=37646
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