Labour is another factor of production, and any effort
to hamper this may lead to unproductive and unfertile economic growth. In
Malaysia, labour force make up, at least 45% of the total population and no
less than 12 million labour force employed in various sectors. Malaysia is one
of the largest hosting countries for foreign workers (FWs) in the region, and their
existence in the Malaysian labour market is crucial to boost the Malaysian
economy towards developed status by 2020.
The question arises, does Malaysia’s policy and its
implementation effective enough to regulate FWs as to achieve its strategic
aims? Or, are FWs unproductive and finally do not fulfill labour’s demands but
affect proportionately in the social ill, political tension and crime rates? Policy
direction that treats FWs as immigrant population instead of labour, regulate
their movement instead of freedom, would not be able to benefit from their
potential.
What’s wrong with Malaysia’s
Foreign Worker Policy?
Now, one should argue, what’s wrong with Malaysia’s
foreign worker policy? Malaysia has an unbounded and short-term in nature
foreign worker policy, with no specific timeframe for its implementation,
without number of foreign workers determined for specific year and sector, and
finally discourages an effective policy evaluation. Malaysia has double
objectives in order to achieve its short-term policy. On the one hand, Malaysia
attempts to encourage legal employment among foreign workers and on the other
hand, to combat the influx of irregular migrants.
After twenty-year of implementation, traced back at
least since 1992, what has been achieved? While the number of legal foreign
workers increased from 532,723 (in year 1993) to 1,573,061 (2011), the number
of irregular migrants also enlarged to almost 2 million (estimate). This
short-term strategy tends to be counterproductive by producing more irregular
immigrants than the legal workers. Note that FWs are heterogeneous social class
in which their regular status could be ‘irregularized’ deliberately or
unintentionally, in multiple ways. Even worse, measures to regulate FWs tend to
be detrimental towards their fundamental rights and sparked off critiques by
certain quarters. The use of outsourcing companies, higher fees for
recruitment, selective and delayed implementation of minimum wages, rotational
recruitment system (just to mention a few) may also position FWs at risk of
various forms of exploitation as well as economic and social deprivations.
Is Morally Sound and
Rights-Based FW’s Policy Possible?
With its limited success, let alone critiques to it - does
expectation to benefit from the existing foreign labour force from at least 14
hosting countries still feasible for Malaysia? Or, does Malaysia end up
regulating their movement, hosting them in 17 immigration detention centres and
undertaking more and more amnesty and repatriation programs that cost millions
of tax payers money? It is the right time for Malaysia to review its current FW
policy and stepping up to another level of perspective in line with good
governance and practices of global migration as well as to adopt existing international
instruments set up by international community.
Recommendation forwarded by NGOs and international
organizations have been concentrated around the need for Malaysia to ratify a
number of treaties and conventions. They are, amongst other, the UN Convention of the Rights of all
Migrant Workers and Members of their Families; ILO Conventions including
Convention 29 (Forced Labour), 87 (Freedom of Association), 98 (Collective
Bargaining), 100 (Equal Remuneration) and International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
By ratifying such instruments and followed by
necessary harmonization into the national legal and institutional settings, Malaysia
would not just gain the potential of FWs but
the ability to claim for a moral victory in concomitant with its
objectives to be a moderate, progressive and developed nation.
Time for a paradigm shift
Malaysia should change its policy from ‘reactive’ to ‘proactive’.
Policy that acts on an ad-hoc basis and responsive on case-by-case basis should
be reviewed. The country should have a courageous to lead the region in
offering and providing a development-centric and ‘immigrant-based’ (not just immigration)
FW’s policy that upholds their basic rights, providing sensible returns and
social security as well as spiritual needs. Thereafter, the country would be
able to benefit the true potential of the FWs.
Heading to it needs proper attention to a number of gaps
in the currently implemented FW’s policy. They are, among the few, as
following;
- To allow FWs to bring their family and relatives and
regularize their marriage while working in Malaysia. This point is
important as to prevent statelessness and status’ irregularity due to
illegal marriage.
- To expedite the implementation of minimum wage for
the FWs, for all sectors without any irrelevant exclusion.
- To review (abolish, if needed) the strategy of ‘outsourcing’ of FWs and discover more on the government-to-government strategy in the process of recruitment and placement of FWs.
-end-
Andika - IKMAS, UKM, 2013
