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?
Sunday Star picked the minds of some students on migrant workers.
IT’s not fair to create presumptions that migrant workers cause crimes, bring diseases into the country and cause various social crimes because Malaysians are just as capable of creating those issues.
From my experience working in shopping malls, they are just like other human beings, wanting to earn a living. They contribute a fair bit to the country too – the foundation of our country’s development is supported by their efforts.
We need to change the way we see and treat migrant workers because most people I know treat them like subpar human beings. We need to realise they are also mortals. They have feelings, they have families, they have lives. We are not superior in any way whatsoever. As much as most of us probably do not fancy their presence, we need to be a bit more humane. — Shameera Lin, 18.
IT is unfair to blame the migrant workers for something that is not their fault. My uncles own a car wash centre and there are many migrant workers and I know them well. I think we should start treating them as how we treat others. We should never look down on them or be disrespectful to them. We need to treat them better. — Dinesh Jayabalan, 16.
IT is never fair to put labels on a certain community merely because a very small number had committed crimes. Besides, animals can carry influenza too while people, including the country’s citizens, also create social problems.
The construction of our skyscrapers and advancement of our transportation system are made possible because of these people who are willing to leave their families and countries behind to earn a living. Their status as immigrants shouldn’t negate their fundamental dignity as people, so we should treat them better. — Shelbie Diana, 18
MIGRANT workers are here to fill the job opportunities in restaurants, shopping malls or factories as our fellow Malaysians are too proud to work there or do not want to do any difficult work. For me, migrant workers contribute a lot to Malaysia. We need to change the way we see migrant workers and regard them as fellow human beings. Nobody is superior or inferior.
Just because they do all these low-paying jobs doesn’t mean that we are better than them. Some of them are actually smart and have degrees. I know one migrant worker with a degree in architecture. He came to Malaysia to become a chef because the pay is better than the pay of an architect in his country. We should start seeing everyone as human. – Elvin Ng, 19.
THE Myanmar guards at my college are always very friendly, contrary to what most people say about migrant workers being rude and the cause of social problems.
I see no reason why they should be treated unfairly as most of them are nice and kind. They’re brought into the country to help boost our growing economy. They’re needed to do all the dirty and dangerous work that locals are reluctant to do. Without them, many jobs will remain vacant and it’ll have a great impact on our economy.
The migrant workers are most needed to help speed up our economic growth as we move towards Vision 2020. In terms of the production in various industries, more workers would mean more production that could increase our country’s GDP. — Tan Kar Can, 20.
Source: The Star
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