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| Republished from New Straits Times, Nov 3, 2020, with the author’s permission. Read the original here. |
I HAD OFTEN wondered when the lopsided conditions for migrant workers that had prevailed for years in our country would attract the attention of those who might give greater weight to justice and fairness.
Strangely, that recognition did surface recently, but it wasn't from our own volition, but from foreign countries instead!
The floodgates were broken recently when the United States and New Zealand singled out a Malaysian glove manufacturer that had forced migrant workers (mostly women from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal) to work long hours, sometimes as long as 12 hours a day, seven days a week! On top of that, these workers often paid huge sums to secure jobs in Malaysia and the practice usually left them with huge debts they cannot pay back.
It is estimated that such fees may account for up to four to seven months of a worker’s salary! In another area where Malaysia had often beamed with pride – palm oil – a local company’s products were also banned by the US for transgressions in – again – the hiring and treatment of migrant workers.
These importers decided to act as they had found reasonable evidence of forced labour in the production process. These workers aren’t robots or machines. Do spare a thought for these people who might be a father, brother, mother, sister, uncle or aunt to someone. They certainly didn’t want to be trapped in such oppressing conditions, but circumstances forced them to leave the comforts of their homeland to eke out a living here.
The time has come for Malaysia to clean up its act. How long must Malaysians deny or pretend that conditions for low-level migrant workers are “all right”? How can we allow our reputation to be sullied by these repressive regulations or conditions? What if we faced more sanctions from developed nations? We can't consume all the rubber gloves and palm oil that we produce, can we?
There must be some basis to the complaints, which had often been shrugged away or swept aside in the past. There's no smoke without fire. Now, the glove manufacturer that had been targeted had reportedly paid back US$12 million to its workers concerned and had also started paying recruitment agencies the necessary fees instead.
What a turn of events! Such compensation wouldn't cause a big dent in its revenue, as demand for gloves had surged by almost 50 per cent due to this year's Covid-19 pandemic, while share prices of Malaysian glovemaking companies had also soared by as much as 400 per cent on Bursa Malaysia of late! To paraphrase Tom Perez, an American politician, it would be unfair if workers baking the pie of prosperity were not sharing the dividends.
It takes two hands to clap and the issue of migrant labour also takes into account the government’s stance on the matter. The authorities must also bear some of the responsibility for this poor state of affairs. We’ve to really take a long hard look at our immigration policies and question ourselves: do we need foreign workers or not? If no is the answer, then do away with them and let Malaysians take up all the responsibilities from A to Z.
If the answer is yes, it’s time to stop pussy-footing. Make the recruitment conditions as transparent as possible so that any employer need not rely on runners, agents, go-betweens and intermediaries and what-have-yous (it’s almost an industry by itself in Malaysia!)
In 2008, the then Chief Secretary to the government, Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan, initiated an embracing policy known as the “No Wrong Door”. It ensured that the public would no longer be turned away even if they approached the wrong department or agency and the government servants there would forward the customers' needs to the relevant office.
Has that policy been thrown out of the window because of changes in the top civil servant’s job or it found little currency as it eliminated the need for a “runners’ culture” to thrive? Now, who wants to start the ball rolling again?
- Datuk Yong Soo Heong is a former chief executive officer and editor-in-chief of Bernama. Read more about him here.
