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?
BY IDA LIM
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 — The government is considering deducting wages from foreign workers to create a savings fund for them, minister Datuk Paul Low said today.
“It’s very tough to go back without any money. Of course in some cases, they send all the money back, in some cases they lost the money locally through leakages,” Low, who is minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, said at the launch of the World Bank’s 13th Malaysia Economic Monitor report.
“So we have to make sure they have a repatriation saving and the repatriation saving could help also to monitor where they are because they have a stake in that,” he added.
The proposed foreign workers’ savings fund will not be like the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), where employers top off the monthly salary deductions of Malaysians working in the private sector for the retirement fund, Low confirmed.
“It’s not an EPF; the employer does not contribute. It’s coming from them, it belongs to them,” he said.
Source: Malay Mail Online
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