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?
"Tell yourselves, no bribes," Abdullah told a gathering of civil servants yesterday in Putrajaya, south of Kuala Lumpur.
<P>Malaysia’s poorest civil servants,
paid less than $5 a day, are struggling with rising fuel, electricity and road-toll
costs. A pay increase may help reduce graft that’s dragging the country down the
corruption rankings.</P><P>"The increase in pay in theory can address a lot
of issues," said Suhaimi Ilias, chief economist at Affin Investment Bank
Bhd. It may boost "consumer spending, reduce the burden on the civil service
in terms of the high cost of living these days, and also add to the instruments
and measures to fight graft."</P><P>Abdullah, 67, came to power in October
2003 and led the Barisan Nasional coalition to an election victory in March 2004
with a pledge to improve transparency. Malaysia fell to 44th in the 2006 Corruption
Perceptions Index from 39th the previous year, Transparency International said
in November.</P><P>Abdullah said he was "open" to demands from unions
seeking higher salaries for the 1.2 million government employees.</P><P><B>Temptation</B></P><P>Abdullah
yesterday urged public servants to do more to cut bureaucracy and reduce corruption,
saying the government’s public delivery system is still a target of criticism.
Last year, he pledged to spend $57 billion on a five-year public development plan.</P><P>"We
have policies, we have the strategy to implement, we are not without ideas,"
Abdullah told workers in Putrajaya, the government’s administrative center. "What
is needed is to implement them. Don’t be tempted" to take bribes, he said.</P><P>The
Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Service, or Cuepacs, yesterday
submitted a memorandum to Abdullah seeking a comprehensive pay review for civil
servants, Cuepacs President Omar Osman said in an interview.</P><P>The government,
Malaysia’s single biggest employer, will study its financial position. "We
can achieve something that can give relief, God willing," Abdullah said.</P><P>Some
civil servants have been forced to take second jobs to make ends meet, working
as part-time taxi drivers or security guards, Omar said. Cuepacs, which is seeking
a 10 percent to 40 percent increase in salaries, said higher pay may help reduce
corruption among less-honest employees.</P><P><B>Poverty Line</B></P><P>Abdullah
said in an interview last month it’s "not easy" to stamp out graft,
calling it "cancerous". The government will continue to investigate
internal corruption, he said yesterday. “We are not stopping. We are not slowing
down.”</P><P>More than halfway through his five-year term, political analysts,
including Shamsul Amri Baharuddin at the University of Malaysia, say price increases
have eaten into incomes and pushed many into corruption.</P><P>The lowest-paid
civil servants, including laborers, drivers and hospital attendants, earn 480
ringgit ($136) a month, and the government hasn’t revised salaries since 1992,
although it has raised allowances, according to Omar at Cuepacs.</P><P>The Malaysian
government considers households earning below 691 ringgit a month to be living
in poverty.</P><P>Malaysia’s inflation rate reached a seven-year high of 4.8 percent
in March after the government raised fuel prices in February, the fifth time since
May 2004. State-controlled Tenaga Nasional Bhd. was allowed to raise power prices
in June by 12 percent, its first rate increase in nine years.</P><P><B>Rising
Costs</B></P><P>The government also allowed five highway operators to raise toll
rates this year. Water rates in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Putrajaya, the country’s
most populous region, were raised by as much as 18 percent in November.</P><P>"The
last pay hike was quite some time ago, and between then and now cumulatively inflation
has gone up quite a lot," said Suhaimi of Affin. "The government has
been trying to help out through increasing allowances, reintroducing the cost
of living allowance, but in the end nothing beats basic pay."</P><P>Malaysia’s
Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop said today the government isn’t planning
to raise fuel prices again. He said a price increase is "not on our mind
at all."</P><P>Still, the government may only announce a pay raise in its
Budget 2008 announcement later this year, and may only agree to half the increase
Cuepacs is seeking, Suhaimi said.</P><P>Abdullah said yesterday Malaysia risks
losing foreign investment to neighboring countries in the region if it doesn’t
improve its public services. He urged civil servants to "facilitate and not
frustrate" in helping companies get permits to do business.</P><P>Citing
a World Bank report that showed it takes longer to set up factories and businesses
in Malaysia than countries like Singapore, Australia, Thailand and Vietnam, Abdullah
said the wait invites bribes from those wanting to speed up applications, exposing
government workers to temptation and creating a "shameful" perception
that the public sector is corrupt.</P><P>"Investors will run," Abdullah
said. "Do you think they’ll come to us? They won’t come."</P><P>To contact
the reporters on this story: Stephanie Phang in Kuala Lumpur at <B><A HREF="mailto:sphang@bloomberg.net">sphang@bloomberg.net</A></B></P><P><I>Source:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aA_ihKAp9sRM&refer=asia</I>
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