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2013-03-08

SHEILA STANLEY

the star online

the star online

We see them in our home. We see them in supermarkets. We see them in the familiar security guard uniforms at shopping centres, apartment complexes and gated housing developments.

They work for our contractors, plumbers and electricians. They are found in wet markets, food stalls and restaurants.

These are our migrant workers. They form the core of the lower middle classes in Malaysia, the working classes who have made their home here, and more and more so, seem to be marrying, having children and building lives for themselves here.

They hail from various countries around Asia — Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, China, the Philippines, India and Sri Lanka, to name a few.

As Malaysia moves inexorably towards high-income nation status, more and more of its citizens are seeking jobs within a comfortable salary scale.

More of us no longer want menial, labourer’s jobs, and these are left to the migrant workers.

For the migrant worker, they come here with dreams and aspirations of a better life, as do migrants all over the world.

It’s a new phenomenon for us, one we are still grappling with. A report in Al Jazeera last year highlighted Malaysia as the largest importer of migrant labour in Asia.

The almost three million migrant workers we now have are viewed as cheap labour in the construction, manufacturing and plantation industries.

This is one side of the story — that employers view them as cheap labour. The other side of the story is that Malaysians are just no longer willing to work at the bottom of the rung anymore.

A restaurateur friend of mine employs a number of migrant workers as waiters, chefs and the manager.

The reason for this is that she can’t find too many Malaysians willing to do these jobs any more. Malaysians seek the comfort and status of office jobs, preferring executive positions in corporations, or being business owners in their own right.

The challenge she, along with other employers of migrant workers face, is that of retaining their workers.

They have a transient mentality, preferring the lure of job hopping than the long term security of a singular employer.

More often than not, her challenge is to find new workers, re-train them and have them leave within a few months for what they perceive as greener pastures with another employer.

Conversely, employers who have faced this problem of migrant workers “running away” then choose to lock their workers in their hostels — certainly there are enough stories of this in the news. This is how some employers “protect” their investment.

Recently, the Malaysian Trades Union Congress brought up the issue of foreign workers, and how many of them are not paid their salary. Its president Khalid Atan said some foreign workers are not paid for the work they do, or are forced to work for long hours — usually for 14 to 16 hours per day — or threatened to be sent back when they question their employers’ action.

On the other hand, there are employers who loan their foreign workers money, only to have them abscond. There are also those who do not overwork their employees, and yet their migrant workers flee.

The issue of employing foreign labour — and by this I am not referring to the Caucasian expatriates who formed the majority of our migrant worker community in the 1990s — is becoming a contentious one these days.

By this token, migrant labour law is becoming more and more a focal issue for both migrant workers and employers. Migrant workers are making an effort to know more about their rights, and it seems employers are also seeking to know more about their duties, obligations and redresses in cases of a breach of contract of employment.

Moving beyond employment, there is the sociological issues the presence of migrant workers raises, namely racism.

As Malaysians, we grapple with our demons in this regard. Even within our multi-generational multi-ethnic communities, we are prone to revert to knee jerk racist reactions in certain situations. Add to the mix a new community of migrants, and we have even more reactions in place.

Based on conversations I have had with friends, acquaintances and strangers, it seems we believe migrant workers are rude and unfriendly. To an extent there is a portion of us who resent their presence here.

Here’s the thing. It seems fairly clear to me that as we move towards becoming a high-income nation, we desire to partake in the high income it will bring. We do not want to settle for the low-income jobs, and our aspiration, as a Malaysian, is to lead a high-income lifestyle.

The low-income jobs exist, though, and form a fundamental part of what keeps society running.

Quite simply, buses need to be driven and drains need to be cleaned. But even with the plan to effect a minimum wage policy, which has faced serious resistance from companies, especially SMEs, Malaysians do not really desire to have these minimum wage jobs.

In developed countries, we have seen how the lower income jobs end up being taken by migrant workers, or by nationals with low education and skill levels. It seems rather inevitable that we are heading down this path as well.

So, it seems fairly clear that migrant workers are here to stay. The key question then is how are we going to come to terms with this and move forward?

Regardless of whether you are a business owner, a home owner, a salaried employee or an unemployed person, you are bound to have an opinion on this. Do share your opinions with me, and in my next column, I will reproduce the best (and worst) here.

• http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2013/3/8/central/12795353&sec=central

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