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?
Even then, most cases of sexual harassment are settled within the company.
<p>"From 2001 to 2004, we only received 105 complaints, of which only 10
people were sacked. This doesn’t reflect the actual scenario," he told
reporters after launching a workshop on sexual harassment in the workplace here
yesterday. </p>
<p>He said only one case involved harassment from a woman, adding that the complaint
was lodged by a 28-year-old man against his 50-year-old boss. </p>
<p>"Women NGOs have been calling for an amendment to the Employment Act.
But it is difficult to come up with laws as sexual harassment is also defined
according to culture and habit. </p>
<p>"We are currently studying a provision to make it compulsory for all employers
to have a mechanism which involves a basic statement on sexual harassment, a
committee to handle complaints, details of action to be taken and punishment
meted out to guilty persons," he said. </p>
<p>On another matter, Ismail said the deadline for employers to conduct an orientation
course for their foreign workers has been extended from Jan 31 to March 31.
</p>
<p>The course involves briefings on local culture, religion, immigration and labour
laws. </p>
<p>"If they do not conduct the course, the employer will not be allowed to
hire new foreign workers. The existing ones may continue working until their
permit expires." </p>
<p>He said that statistics from the Immigration Department showed there were 51,000
foreign workers that needed to undergo the course. Only 14,034 have done so.
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