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 Lee Hwok Aun AUGUST 12 — The Rio 2016 Olympics is making waves for reasons glorious and notorious, but the carnival of sport has made one unambiguously positive statement with the first ever inclusion of a team of refugees. The athletic participation of nationally displaced peoples, alongside those flag-bearing for their homelands, serves timely […]
Anas Alam Faizli Professor Robert Merton, one of the founding fathers of modern-day sociology argued that “a false definition of the situation evokes a new behaviour which makes the original false conception come true”. We are accustomed to several economic facts that we accept as the norm, although it might be different elsewhere. It is […]
Hwok-Aun Lee Malaysia’s policies toward migrant labor are as fickle and confused as ever. The country’s latest five-year development plan, unveiled last May, set a high-priority goal of reducing dependency on foreign migrant labor; it set a target of reducing the share of foreigners in the workforce to 15%. They now account for 25-35%, a […]
Chan Chee Khoon In recent years, WHO Member States have been urged to speed up reforms to ensure that all persons can have timely access to quality health services without falling into financial hardship. 1. In the Southeast Asian region, citizens of Malaysia and Singapore have long benefited from widely accessible tax-funded or subsidised government […]
Author: Timothy Ryan, Asia Regional Program Director, Solidarity Center With the flood of exposés and revelations about pervasive labor rights violations, physical mistreatment and deadly violence against migrants coming to work in Malaysia, the dire exploitation of workers in this Southeast Asian economic powerhouse has been laid bare. Only time will tell if the attention […]
Rash Behari Bhattacharjee During the debate on the Budget 2016, Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar drew attention to important issues concerning poverty among Malaysians and its connection with migrant labour, that point to deep problems in the economy and our society. Among the points he raised is the gross discrepancy between the official statistics […]
Callistus Antony D’Angelus The Budget 2016 proposal for an increase in the minimum wage from RM900 to RM1,000 in Peninsular Malaysia and from RM800 to RM900 for Sabah and Sarawak has deservedly been roundly condemned for its inadequacy by the secretary-general of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC), N. Gopal Kishnam. The financial pressure on […]
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