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?
KUALA LUMPUR: Putrajaya is considering shifting working hours from day to night for workers in certain industries so that they can work when the weather is not scorching hot.
Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said this was to ease the discomfort of those who performed hard labour during the day, in the scorching heat.
“Nowadays, we see rich people playing golf at night, because there are bright lights. There is no heat. This may be hard to accept at first, but as time goes by, we will get used to this,” he said in his speech at a dinner organised by the Segambut PPBM here tonight.
Mahathir said such working hours were not unheard of, noting that in certain countries, during the fasting month, Muslims slept during the day and worked during the night.
Mahathir said measures to facilitate this could be taken, such as by installing floodlights for workers to work at night.
“This will reduce the stress of working in the heat during the day,” he said.
Mahathir also said there was no honour in getting money without working, expressing hope that the rakyat would work hard for themselves, earn enough income, live comfortably and contribute to the country’s economic development.
“When the country grows economically, we will get the benefits, because then the government can develop the infrastructure needed by the people,” he said.
The PPBM chairman said he wanted to see the nation’s prosperity shared equally among all the races — those who lived in urban and rural areas and between employers and workers.
“When we implement this shared prosperity, we don’t want to see any race becoming poor, but get equal opportunities and earn lucrative incomes,” he added.
Address: Wisma MTUC,10-5, Jalan USJ 9/5T, 47620 Subang Jaya,Selangor | Tel: 03-80242953 | Fax: 03-80243225 | Email: sgmtuc@gmail.com.com