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?
"The losses are due to the shortage of workers available to harvest oil
palm fruits which are highly perishable," Malaysian Employers’ Federation
executive director Shamsuddin Bardan told the New Straits Times.
<p>The repatriation of some 400,000 illegal immigrants, mainly low-wage Indonesian
workers, during a four-month amnesty that ended in March has left a yawning
labour gap in Malaysia’s agricultural, construction, manufacturing and services
sectors.</p>
<p>It has led to industry losses running into hundreds of millions of dollars
and sparked fears it may exacerbate a slowdown in economic growth, which is
seen at 5.0-6.0 percent this year, down from 7.1 percent in 2004, analysts say.</p>
<p><b>Labour crunch</b></p>
<p>The government has devised a scheme under which expelled illegal workers would
be processed in Indonesia and re-admitted to Malaysia as legal employees but
has complained of delays in the system and has begun recruiting workers from
other countries.</p>
<p>It has agreed to take in 100,000 Pakistanis and 1,100 have already arrived
in the country, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Tan Chai Ho told the NST.</p>
<p>Malaysia is also seeking workers from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Burma and Vietnam
to alleviate the acute labour crunch.</p>
<p>The departure of illegal immigrants caused a shortage of some 200,000 workers
in the manufacturing sector, 150,000 in construction, 50,000 in plantations
and 20,000 in the services sector, the cabinet has been told. – AFP
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