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?
Federation of Vegetables Farmers Association of Malaysia secretary-general
Chay Ee Mong said there are about 2,000 fewer workers now and this has led to
a drop of about 25% in vegetable production.
<p>"As a result, the price of vegetables has risen by between 50% and 100%.</p>
<p>"For example, the farm price of red chillies and cabbages have increased
from RM2 to RM4 per kilo and RM1.20 to RM2 respectively," he added.</p>
<p>The federation, which represents more than 3,500 farmers, said the members
did not have enough workers to harvest vegetables so they were forced to leave
the greens to rot.</p><table border="0" cellpadding="7" align="left" width="254">
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<p>"Because of the labour shortage, we have also planted less vegetables
during the last three months, leading to even lower production this month.</p>
<p>"If the labour shortage continues, we can expect the high prices to remain
over the next few months," Chay said.</p>
<p>He said that when illegal immigrants left for home during the amnesty period
the industry was left in the lurch.</p>
<p>"Some of the illegal immigrants just ran away after learning that the
Government would take action against them after the amnesty period," he
said.</p>
<p>He said the farmers had applied for foreign workers before the Chinese New
Year but were still waiting for them to arrive.</p>
<p>"Farming is a labour-intensive industry so the Government should look
into our plight and speed up the application process," he said.</p>
<p>Chay said local workers were not interested in working on farms.</p>
<p>Kulai Farmers Association chairman Tan Pak Looi said the Government should
simplify the application procedure in order to speed up the process of bringing
in foreign labour.</p>
<p>"Some farmers ended up with not even one foreign worker after their workers
returned home during the amnesty period," he said.</p>
<p>Johor Baru Vegetable Wholesalers and Suppliers Association chairman Yeo Hang
Pin said the wholesale prices of certain vegetables were the highest since 1984.</p>
<p>He said the wholesale price of cucumbers had jumped to about RM3 per kilo in
the past two weeks compared with about RM1 earlier.</p>
<p>"We have to import cucumbers from Thailand to ensure that the price is
below RM3," he said, adding that potatoes, had doubled in price to RM1
per kilo.</p>
<p>Kuala Lumpur Vegetable Wholesalers Association chairman Soo Cheng Kee said
the wholesale price of vegetables from Cameron Highlands, Pahang, Selangor,
Johor and Perak had risen by about 40% in the last month.</p>
<p>"I hope the Government will give priority to farmers when processing the
applications for foreign labour so that the farmers can increase their production,"
he said.
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