Malaysia tries to shackle foreign
workers By Baradan Kuppusamy
KUALA LUMPUR - A plan by the Malaysian
government to confine some 2.8 million foreign
workers to their ramshackle living quarters in an
effort to curb rising crime rates has outraged
critics, who describe the move as a deplorable act
of discrimination against an already vulnerable
migrant community and a violation of international
labor regulations.
Foreign workers,
opposition lawmakers, trade union officials and
human-rights activists have come together to
denounce the controversial plan, scheduled to be
tabled in parliament in March. "The plan
discriminates and promotes prejudice against migrant
workers. It is unbelievable,"
said Irene Fernandez, executive director of
Tenaganita, a non-governmental organization
dedicated to helping migrant workers. "These
measures are against international labor rules and
codes."
The measures are said to be part
of a major policy shift in the government's
management of foreign workers from the Human
Resources Ministry to the Home Affairs Ministry
which, some critics say, blanket categorizes
migrant workers as a security problem. Under the
proposed legislation, many functions traditionally
handled by the Human Resources, Tourism and Health
ministries will now come under Home Affairs, which
oversees police, international security and the
People's Volunteer Corps.
There are
currently an estimated 800,000 undocumented
migrant workers in the country. Under the plan,
the workers, mostly employed in the construction,
manufacturing and plantation sectors, will be
confined to their ramshackle quarters - known
locally as kongsi - which usually consist
of zinc roofing sheets and plywood and are located
inside or near their workplaces. The proposed rule
will apply even on their days of rest, when many
off-duty workers head for the cinemas, shopping
complexes or beer parlors.
If the new law
is passed, it will see them confined to their
quarters unless they have express permission from
their employers to leave their workplaces.
Employers will also be required to keep a logbook
detailing the daily movements of their foreign
employees for spot inspections by police. "This
way we can keep track of the workers and arrest
them if they are involved in crime," said Musa
Hassan, the inspector-general of police.
Xenophobic blame game While
police statistics reveal that serious crime in
Malaysia climbed 40% year-on-year in 2006, only 2%
of criminal incidents were directly attributable
to foreign workers. However, the state-controlled
media, nationalistic lawmakers and the general
public frequently blame foreign workers, who
account for 12% of the total workforce of 12
million.
The bulk of the blame falls on
Indonesians, who form 65% of the foreign
workforce, followed by Bangladeshis, Nepalis,
Indians and Vietnamese. Police estimate that an
additional 700,000, mostly Indonesians, are
employed in Malaysia without valid work documents.
The new proposed measures have come under heavy
criticism, with international rights groups,
including London-based Amnesty International (AI),
which has said migrant workers, like ordinary
people, are entitled to fundamental rights
enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and in Malaysia's own constitution.
"This includes the right to liberty and
security; to equality before the law without
discrimination, the right to freedom of movement
as well as to the presumption of innocence," said
AI country director Josef Roy Benedict. "These
measures are themselves human-rights violations
and a form of punishment," he said, adding that a
person's liberty can be suspended only if he is
proved to have committed a crime that warrants
imprisonment by a court of law and after a fair
trial.
AI warned that the use of migrants
as scapegoats for criminal acts will increase
racial and xenophobic prejudice against the
migrant community in Malaysia. The US-based Human
Rights Watch (HRW) also condemned the government's
plan to, what it said "virtually locks up
workers". In a statement, the rights group said
the resulting isolation would also put migrant
workers at risk of other abuses.
"Instead
of improving the situation, Malaysia's proposed
foreign worker bill will dramatically worsen the
situation," said Nisha Varia, senior researcher on
women's rights in Asia for HRW. "It's shocking
that Malaysia is even considering such a proposal
that would give employers freedom to lock up
workers."
Even the semi-official New
Straits Times daily newspaper voiced apprehension,
saying it is questionable whether controlling the
movement of foreign workers will "quell the rising
tide of crime". "The question is whether
confinement would be a justifiable pre-emptive
measure - in terms of fair treatment of the
foreign workers and the extra responsibilities
that would be visited upon the employer to make
sure that his workers stay confined, and
presumably out of mischief," the daily said in a
February 20 editorial.
"In addition, the
cramped and sometimes deplorable living conditions
in the typical kongsi are hardly conditions
one should want to confine workers within," the
daily said. "Such well-meaning solutions may work
in an ideal world. But in the present
circumstances, given the sheer numbers and
distribution of foreign workers in Malaysia and
the remoteness of many worksites using these
workers, such measures might not only be
unenforceable but might well create new problems
without solving the ones they target."
Critics note that existing rules already
severely restrict migrant workers. For instance,
they are barred from marrying local women, opening
bank accounts, changing jobs or traveling. "They
are constantly stopped, questioned and arrested
even when they have valid documents," said
Fernandez.
Foreign workers, too, have
expressed dismay at the open discrimination. "This
is a form of slavery," said Ahmed Badulla, 27, an
iron foundry worker from Pakistan. "We are so busy
working day and night to send money home. How can
we commit crimes?"
His Pakistani
co-worker, Tajul Mohideen, added: "This country is
very rich and there are lots of jobs, but there is
a lot of discrimination too."
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