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?
Tough luck, employees, it is totally up to your handlers to decide on what
you deserve, and if it’s peanuts you get, munch quick.
<p>"Minimum wage my foot!"
<p>How much lower can one go? Getting paid an earning which is lower than the
official poverty line seems to be quite the norm within modern Malaysia’s working
class.</p>
<p>And yet, the government manages one notch lower, by politely asking her nation’s
workers to "refrain from demanding" and "start negotiating",
whilst churning rhetoric after rhetoric that minimum wage hurts the economy,
that minimum wage only benefits foreign workers, and that minimum wage deserves
an in-your-face "not welcomed here".</p>
<p>Excruciating cost of living has pushed up the poverty line, but salaries remain
quite the same as they were 15 years ago. Malaysia’s workers are a poor lot,
and a distressed lot, too, judging from the nationwide pickets organised by
Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) to demand for a minimum wage of RM900
and Cost of Living Allowance of RM300.</p>
<p>With the average of RM700 many workers earn today, minus EPF savings, you have
barely enough to pay your rent, bills, and put food on the table for your family,
everyday. Saving RM50 each month is an achievement so profound you are tempted
to spend it on repairing that leaking roof. Never mind if your house is painted
with the words "Roboh" followed by a date not too distant in the future.</p>
<p>You won’t be able to afford pay TV, fast-food meals, or a car. The value of
your life significantly decreases if you ride a motorcycle, the cheapest, but
most dangerous, mode of transport available. Public transport does not reach
your workplace. You can take the factory bus, with a cut in wages, of course.</p>
<p><b><font color="#800000">"Life is cheap!</font></b></p>
<p>You work, and you rest. You are not encouraged to think a lot, and when you
actually do, you are given patronisingly pacifying propaganda that confuse you.
And you stop.</p>
<p>But thousands more, thousands who don’t even qualify to be in your class suffer
in silence still. As high as 70 percent of our university graduates cannot find
employment, a huge number of them supposedly unemployable, and many who do find
jobs find themselves exploited, in one way or another. You are not alone.</p>
<p>In fact, graduate level salaries here are only comparable with what workers
are paid in "a tiny island without opportunities" called Singapore.</p>
<p>"Singapore is not a real country!"</p>
<p>So, of course, they find a way to pay their workers better, too.</p>
<p>Graduates who do not bother looking for employment here go there, and in due
course, get paid unreal salaries.</p>
<p>I had the chance to talk to two very interesting friends of mine recently.
Both are real Malaysians, both freshly completed the real Malaysian education
(STPM and public university), one of which is earning a real Malaysian salary,
the other has rejected numerous offers deemed too bad to be real.</p>
<p>Nicole* studied film in university and had a taste of things to come in her
two month internship with one of Malaysia’s many production houses. Most of
the work she experienced there involved manual labour, required specific on-the-job
skills, which were not related at all to her experience on campus, was dominated
by males, and didn’t need much language skills.</p>
<p>Granted, it could have been one of the lower grade houses, but the fact that
her university approved of her internship there indicated the general quality
of Malaysia’s production scene, and gave Nicole second thoughts about pursuing
a career in it.</p>
<p><font color="#800000"><b>Third job in a month</b></font></p>
<p>A year later, studies completed, she started her job hunt and quickly got an
offer for the position of Management Trainee at a monthly salary of RM1200 in
a company that claimed to do business with multinational F&B companies.</p>
<p>Her first, and last, day at work with this company was spent walking the streets
of Kepala Batas, pushing some Korean oat biscuit to potential customers. Modus
operandi was to walk up to anyone who looks interested enough to buy some crackers,
and sell them the consumables, RM10 per box.</p>
<p>Nicole’s second job was much more promising. Her position: Education Counselor.
Job objective: Find students to enroll in part-time professional diplomas offered
by two public universities in Malaysia. Employer: A middle-person company in
partnership with the two public universities. <i>Modus operandi</i>, flip through
Yellow Pages, locate companies who deal with work related to whatever courses
those universities offer, call them up to enquire if their workers might be
interested to study for a diploma.</p>
<p>"Hello, I am Nicole from Universiti Terbagus Malaysia*, can I speak to
your wireman? You see, we are offering this part-time professional course for
people like you, can I come meet you to discuss further?"</p>
<p>Nicole lasted five days as Education Counsellor. Zero sign-ups, not a single
cent was paid to her.</p>
<p>Within a month, Nicole got her third job, one at an events management company
she has stuck to with utmost inner strength, earning RM1200 a month. Job title:
Operations Executive cum Accounts Executive. In other words, general clerk-in-chief.
Skills required on the job: Literate in Microsoft Office applications, mathematically
sound, and keen on company procedures.</p>
<p>Nicole plans to work up the ladder, she already has her budget worked out to
RM250 for rent, RM200 for petrol, RM300 for meals (RM10 per day), RM50 for utilities,
RM75 for phone calls. Minus EPF, she has an extra RM150 to either send home
to mum, or splurge.</p>
<p>My other friend, Mandy*, is getting tired, just three months into her job search.</p>
<p>"Now, I just aim to get a job, any job, before my convocation in August
as it would be terribly embarassing to have to state my employment status as
jobless in the compulsory survey forms," she says.</p>
<p><font color="#800000"><b>Limited job opportunities</b></font></p>
<p>Similar to Nicole, Mandy studied Broadcasting in university and decided against
joining the crazy, but very limited, world of Malaysian television upon completion
of her final semester. She now aspires to join the service industry, hoping
to build a career slowly.</p>
<p>It has not been easy for Mandy, she wants to stay in Penang, but finds job
opportunities there too limited.</p>
<p>After having no luck looking through newspaper advertisements and online job
sites, Mandy turned to a recruitment firm for help.</p>
<p>"No job match."</p>
<p>Mandy then started to go through even the newspaper classifieds. Not a great
place for graduate level work adverts, but what the heck.</p>
<p>For the record, she has now gotten two interviews in two months, both ended
up offering her a paltry RM900 per month.</p>
<p>"I will accept any job that pays what a graduate deserves," says
Mandy.</p>
<p>And how much is that?</p>
<p>"At least RM1200, or I’ll be following my friends to Singapore in January."</p>
<hr>
<i>NG ENG KIAT is doing postgraduate studies, against strong advice from many,
at the same local university he recently completed his first degree.</i>
<p><i>Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/rentakini/69635</i>
Address: Wisma MTUC,10-5, Jalan USJ 9/5T, 47620 Subang Jaya,Selangor | Tel: 03-80242953 | Fax: 03-80243225 | Email: sgmtuc@gmail.com.com