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?
Last month, the government issued a proposal to forcibly confine
migrant workers to their ramshackles called <I>kongsi</I>. The confinement is
aimed to monitor the movement of migrant workers.
<P>Additionally, employers
of foreign workers are being asked to make a daily log of the comings and goings
of their workers which shall be made available upon request by the police. The
confinement also covers the days off of foreign workers.</P><P>The plan is said
to be part of the government’s move to transfer the functions of “management
of foreign workers” from the human resources ministry to the home affairs
ministry. This move assumes that foreign workers in Malaysia is part of the country’s
security problem.</P><P>According to the government, the proposal is aimed to
curb the rise of criminality in Malaysia. Police data indicate that the crime
rate in Malaysia increased by 40 percent in 2006 compared to the previous year.</P><P>The
increased crime rate is being blamed by the government on foreign workers. Even
Deputy Minister of Internal Security Fu Ah Kiow drumbeats the data that “34
per cent – or 11,900 – of the 35,000 prisoners in the country are foreigners,
many of whom are held on remand.” <I>(Malaysiakini, 8March 2007)</I></P><P>However,
police data also show that only two per cent of the crimes in Malaysia have been
committed by foreign workers. The 11,900 migrant workers were imprisoned mainly
due to immigration-related offenses.</P><P>Also, as the local Malaysian Trade
Union Council (MTUC) said that the number of migrant workers in prison is less
than 0.5% of the 2.6 million foreign workers in the country.</P><P><B>Modern-Day
Slavery</B></P><P>The proposal can be clearly characterized as a throwback from
the time of slavery when slaves were made to huddle in designated slave pens.</P><P>The
plan reeks of violation of the most fundamental rights of the people as enshrined
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights including the right to mobility as well
as to due process. To treat them like chattel will place migrant workers in even
more abusive and exploitative conditions. Many foreign workers in Malaysia are
undocumented, with estimates ranging from 700,000 to about one million. As undocumented
migrants, they are already faced with the problems of low wage, inhumane working
and living conditions, lack of benefits, as well as lack of access to basic services
including health.</P><P>Local groups also stressed that the move will heighten
xenophobia among the public and will create an unfounded atmosphere of fear. Hate
crimes could even happen because of this.</P><P><B>Migrant workers as scapegoats
for societal problems</B></P><P>The failure of the Malaysian government to address
criminality is being put on the shoulders of foreign workers.</P><P>Putting the
blame on foreign workers when host governments are at a loss on how to resolve
national problems is not only exclusive to Malaysia.</P><P>In Hong Kong (HK),
for example, the unemployment problem experienced for the past years has been
rooted in the presence of foreign domestic workers (FDWs). This line of reasoning
– despite the fact that studies made by the HK government itself state that
the market for employers of local domestic workers and FDWs are vastly different
– was used by the government to impose the levy for employers of FDWs.</P><P>At
the same time, a cut on the wage of FDWs – the same amount as that of the
levy for a two-year contract period – was also implemented which prompted
FDWs to declare it as unjust taxation.</P><P>In the United States, the US Patriot
Act – supposedly implemented in the name of national security – also
unjustly puts the blame of terrorist attacks in the US to foreign workers.</P><P>Aside
from the fact that putting the blame on foreign workers is cruel and unjust, what
is also condemnable of such actions is the fact that in host countries, the contribution
of foreign workers in building their current society and economic progress is
forgotten in the face of national crises.</P><P>Meanwhile, in times of economic
progress, benefits hardly tickle down to migrants.</P><P>Advocates of migrant’s
rights, human rights organizations, local people’s groups and the international
community should oppose this new proposal. Countries sending laborers to Malaysia
must also show their condemnation to this inhuman move.</P>
<P><I>Source: http://www.apmigrants.org/publications/ND_February_2007.pdf</I>
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