Human Exploitation

Malaysia claims to be an 'open' economy, a 'free' society and a leading 'welfare' state and a 'unified civilised' society, but even today the country is still guilty of human exploitation. Below is the general layout of present-day Malaysian society: ____________________________ | | | UMNOPUTRAS | |___________________________| | _______________|______________ | | | BN SUPPORTERS | |_____________________________| | ______________|_____________ | | | THE GENERAL POPULACE | |___________________________| | ______________|______________ | | | THE LEGAL FOREIGN WORKERS | |____________________________| | _______________|________________ | | | THE DISADVANTAGED MINORITIES | | AND THE POOR | |_______________________________| | _________________|___________________ | | | THE ILLEGAL FOREIGN WORKERS | |___________________________________| The BN ruling class mainly made up of the UMNOputras and their apologist BN compatriots are known to be a rather corrupt and untrustworthy and shady group of politicians who have never hesitated to use the resources of the government, including the law enforcement agencies and the mass media to maintain their grip on power and to exploit others for vast material rewards. The BN has unethically pursued a policy of subtle discrimination against the country's minority groups for the past thirty or so years and only those who were the active and close supporters of government policy were able to get some relief or exemption. The worst off were those living in urban slums, rural estates and the interior. Crime was bad and the police were brutal while the BN politicians and their minions lived in luxury and high comfort. Wheeling and dealing was very acceptable and many politicians were secret millionaires. There was even one episode of a BN politician caught at a foreign airport with a briefcase full of cash that was eventually confiscated by the authorities. Many others so regularly went on unofficial overseas trips they became known as 'playboy' politicians.

Today, even with a more effective and freer information industry, the BN politicians still have not shed their unethical or immoral ways. Many of them today are still deeply involved in shady deals, corruption and money politics. Licences to run businesses are still being allocated or given out to their supporters no matter if such a practice invariably leads to human exploitation. The giving out of licences and permits to 'import' foreign workers so that the country could enjoy cheap and 'obedient' (and expendable) workers is surely most nauseating to those who believe in honesty and good conduct. This practise has actually been intensified under the current regime of A. Badawi and even more alarming is the fact that illegal foreign workers are now coming in with greater numbers than before. Many of these people are from immediate neighbouring countries but customs and practices still differ and a lot of them in the end lost their jobs due to misunderstandings and also as a result of raw unmitigated exploitation by unscrupulous employers who often have links to many insiders within the law enforcement agencies. Some of the desperate foreigners took to crime as a way to survive but eventually they got their due rewards from the business end of police revolvers. Due to the hazards of their sombre occupation, these foreigners often do not hesitate to use extreme violence on their victims. Robbery victims are often slashed, beaten up, raped or even killed during and after the crime was committed. Meanwhile, the country's youths, especially those who did not do well in school have only dim prospects of securing a stable future in the so-called 'civilised' and 'high-degree-of-welfare' society that is claimed to exist here. Many of them could not compete with the cheap and obedient foreign workers in the country and in the end they turn to hawking pirated goods, handbag snatching, drug peddling, carjacking, card counterfeiting and vice activities. And yet, now, we get assailed by the news that 70,000 workers from Bangladesh are coming over to assume jobs that are supposedly stil available despite the present economic meltdown. This is surely most ludicrous when their workers who are already here are living and staying without a proper roof over their heads, having to make do with sleeping under bridges, inside parks and building sites. And all the while our factories and offices are shedding excess workers. The present BN government is thoroughly guilty of human exploitation not only of foreign workers but also of our ignorant and pitifully unfortunate young people. The real beneficiaries of this policy are the individuals and organisations who blindly and unabashedly support the corrupt and immoralist conduct of the ruling class. They get to ride around in luxurious cars, live in fancy homes, wear ostentatious jewellery and celebrate weddings in showy and wanton styles. The sin of human exploitation is never bereft of eventual retribution. The present economic and financial meltdown is now expected to last much longer than initially anticipated, perhaps two years or more. In two or three or four years time, social discord in Malaysia would most probably have reached boil over point and this would also be at about the due date of the next general elections and the BN will have just no way out except to face its due reckoning from the furious public.