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?
That amount of money is taken home yearly by the 1,500 Thais who are employed
as seasonal workers at the plantation of the PPB Group Berhad, its personnel
manager, Shukor Sultan, said Friday.
<p>He said each of the workers earned between RM3,000 and RM4,000 for the six
months that they worked at the plantation, planting or harvesting the crop or
doing irrigation work.</p>
<p>Shukor said the local people, particularly the youths, were uninterested in
the work despite the company offering to transport them to and from their homes
to the workplace.</p>
<p>Only about 300 people, many of them aged more than 50 years, took up the harvesting
jobs that were available between December and May every year, he added.</p>
<p>The company notified the people of the jobs through leaflets that were distributed
widely, including at mosques and through the village development and security
committees, he said.</p>
<p>Shukor said the company had to use foreign workers and machines to harvest
the sugarcane due to the poor response from the local people, adding that it
now had 10 harvesting machines.</p>
<p>He advised the local people, particularly unemployed youths, to register with
the company to take up the jobs, saying that it would enable the company reduce
employment of foreign workers and help the country save on foreign exchange.
— BERNAMA
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