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 2.2 million documented migrant workers in Malaysia will be fully covered under the SOCSO Act for employment-related injury with effect from 1 January 2020.
The government announced its implementation in January 2019 however, due to the insurance policies purchased under the Workmen Compensation Act, the full effect of the SOCSO Act for migrant workers will take full effect on 1 January 2020.
Migrant workers were initially protected under the SOCSO Act 1969 but in 1993, the Malaysian Government moved them to be protected under the Workmen Compensation Act 1952. This resulted in inequality of treatment granted to the migrant workers compared to the national workers.
A complaint then arose in the ILO in 1996 and the plight of millions of migrant workers who have limited or no SOCSO coverage came under the scrutiny of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
MTUC secretary-general, J Solomon made strong intervention at the ILO Labour Conference where the committee on the application of international labour standard examined this complaint.
In the last intervention by J Solomon on June 2018, the world body dispatched a high powered Direct Contact Mission (DCM) for a three-day mission to assist the government and other stakeholders in implementing the committee’s recommendation and to ascertain Putrajaya’s adherence to the ILO’s Convention 19 (C19) which compels countries to ensure equality of treatment (Accident Compensation) for all workers.
He said although the government has announced that the 2.2 million migrant workers with permits would enjoy SOCSO coverage from this year, many of them faced difficulty in obtaining assistance such as medical treatment and compensation.
“Apart from this problem, MTUC is also very concerned about the fate of millions of undocumented workers in Malaysia who are denied any form of coverage in the event of industrial accidents at workplaces,” he said.
“By providing such coverage to undocumented workers, the government will not only be complying with C19 but can also put in place the necessary mechanism to legalise these workers,” Solomon said.
Solomon said during their three-day stay in Malaysia, the seven member-DCM examined the effective access to medical care in cases of workplace injury.
He said despite the government announcing foreign workers would have SOCSO coverage; many still faced teething problems in the full implementation of the SOCSO benefits for the migrant workers. This included Putrajaya’s role to ensure all migrant workers – legal and undocumented – have SOCSO coverage benefits on par with local workers. The problems are not effectively addressed, largely due to the absence of effective consultation with the tripartite social partners.
This was also one of the DCM general findings and it was concluded that the tripartite consultative and communication process could be improved to benefit from their insights in the implementation and work plan, with effective follow up.
Solomon said the DCM would report its findings on Malaysia’s compliance with C19 and make the necessary recommendations to the ILO which would then take up the relevant issues with the Malaysian government.
The meetings were to enable the ILO to play its part in helping the government to address issues affecting the implementation of an effective domestic social security scheme for all migrant workers.
MTUC has been relentlessly pursuing this matter in the best interest of the migrant workers who have contributed immensely to this nation and they ought to be treated fairly.
It is important to ensure migrants do not remain vulnerable in Malaysia which has a direct connection to the vulnerability of national workers and their right to basic human rights and decent living.
This DCM is also historical as this is the first time the ILO DCM has landed on Malaysian soil.
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