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?
>Malaysia is set to launch a large-scale operation against hundreds of thousands
of illegal immigrants on Tuesday.
<p>The operation to round up, whip and deport illegal immigrants, mainly Indonesians,
marks the end of an amnesty which has twice been extended at Jakarta’s request.</p>
<p>Some 300 people from Burma, Cambodia and Indonesia’s Aceh province lined up
today at the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) hoping to secure UN support
to remain in Malaysia.</p>
<p>Zaw Aung from Burma said he had been in Malaysia for 10 years illegally along
with his wife and two children.</p>
<p>"With this crackdown, my friend who has been giving me shelter has told
me to leave his house because he fears he may also be arrested. I have no home
now. Please help me," he said.</p>
<p>Another Burmese migrant, Morani, 32, had camped outside the UN agency for the
past week with her four-year-old daughter to obtain a letter to prevent arrest
or deportation.</p>
<p>"I am afraid of being arrested. We do not have any travel documents. We
do not want to go back," she said.</p>
<p>Morani, whose husband works in the plantation sector in northeastern Kelantan
state, said they had been in Malaysia for the past 12 years.</p>
<p><b>Into hiding</b></p>
<p>Malaysia is deploying tens of thousands of volunteers and officials to hunt
down the illegal immigrants.</p>
<p>"We know many of the illegals have gone into hiding," Mahadi Arshad,
director general of the 300,000-strong civilian security force volunteers, told
AFP.</p>
<p>Mahadi said they would launch their blitz from late Monday. "We know where
they are hiding."</p>
<p>Some 35,000 volunteers who have received special training would be involved
in the operation along with hundreds of immigration and police officials, he
said.</p>
<p>The crackdown would be Malaysia’s largest blitz to flush out illegal immigrants
in three years. A similar nationwide sweep was carried out in 2002 following
the end of a four-month amnesty program.</p>
<p>The operation has been criticised by human rights groups which say it is open
to abuse.</p>
<p><b>Rights violations</b></p>
<p>Amnesty International earlier this month urged Malaysia to halt the planned
deportation of illegals amid fears some could face execution or torture in their
home countries.</p>
<p>Migrants from Burma, Nepal and Aceh could be subjected to serious human rights
violations if they were sent home in the crackdown, it said.</p>
<p>Before the recent amnesty began on Oct 29 last year, Malaysia estimated there
were more than a million illegal workers in the country, mostly from Indonesia
but also from the Philippines, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.</p>
<p>Nearly 400,000, mostly Indonesians, left without facing any penalty during
the first three months of the amnesty, but others have remained, clinging to
jobs in the construction, plantation and service industries in the face of unemployment
at home.</p>
<p>Outside the Indonesian mission, hundreds of illegals were waiting with their
luggage for buses to transport them to Port Klang, west of here to board an
Indonesian navy ship.</p>
<p>"I came to Malaysia legally but my boss did not pay my salary for seven
months. So I decided to run away from the company and worked illegally as a
rubber tapper for the past three years," said Rahim, 21, from central Java.</p>
<p>"I going back and I do not want to return," he said. – AFP
Address: Wisma MTUC,10-5, Jalan USJ 9/5T, 47620 Subang Jaya,Selangor | Tel: 03-80242953 | Fax: 03-80243225 | Email: sgmtuc@gmail.com.com