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?
Deputy Human Resource Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Bakar said that it was worrying and furthermore it kept rising every year.
<P>"More than 300,000 Malaysians
now work abroad and the most popular countries are Indonesia, Dubai, Britain,
India, Vietnam besides Singapore. Without fail, every year we receive reports
of abuse and cheating of Malaysian workers, the most being in Singapore,"
he told reporters after closing a canoeing competition here today.</P><P>Abdul
Rahman said that most of the reports dealt with salaries promised not being paid,
bonuses withheld, not receiving compensations due, forced to process pork (Muslim
workers) and not being provided with comfortable accommodation.</P><P>"Most
of those affected were employed in the manufacturing and cleaning services sectors,"
he said.</P><P>He said that the ministry had sent its officers to the Labour Ministry
in Singapore to discuss the matter and it was found that unaccredited and unlicensed
labour agencies were mostly responsible for the cases.</P><P>To avoid recurrence,
Abdul Rahman said the ministry would identify and blacklist these agencies.</P><P>He
advised Malaysians wanting to work overseas to first check with the ministry the
credibility of the agencies offering them jobs.</P><P>Those victimised are advised
to make police reports in the countries they are employed or seek the assistance
of the Malaysian embassy there to help them.</P><P>Abdul Rahman said the ministry
would also expedite efforts to set up labour consulates in the six countries to
look into matters affecting Malaysian workers in them.</P><P>"They were to
be in place by January, but because of some problems, we could not do so. However,
we are confident they can be set up at the latest by the end of this year,"
he said.</P><P>A total of 135 youths including two tourists from Japan took part
in the 35-km canoeing race on Sungei Marang, which was organised by the Marang
Youth Council. — BERNAMA</P><P><I>Source: http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=253112</I>
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