Thesun 2009-07-02 Page14 Doing Without Foreign Workers

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theSun

| THURSDAY JULY 2 2009

INTERVIEWS VIEWS

Doing without foreign workers by Yap Mun Ching

I HAVE a confession to make. About a dozen years ago, I wrote to a development issues magazine criticising an article that criticised Malaysians for mistreating foreign workers. I had misguidedly defended the low wages paid to the workers and linked their

presence to incidences of crime. Fast forward to the present, I am much better informed and my views far more moderate but it seems either that too few people share these views or they may be too little too late for Indonesian policymakers who last week suspended sending workers to Malaysia. In these difficult economic

times, it must not have been an easy call to make. Countries exporting migrant workers earn large amounts of foreign currency from migrant labour repatriations. Since Malaysia is one of the largest employers of Indonesian workers, the state of affairs must be really dire to provoke such a reaction from Jakarta.

having established roots where they worked, problems mounted. France has difficulties assimilating its Algerian migrants, Germany, its Turkish migrants The dilemma and the Netherposed by employlands, its Moroccan ment of migrant migrants. Britain is workers is a deep considering a general rooted one. Human Freespace amnesty to cope with migration, of course, the large numbers of is as old as civilisa- Where young views rule illegal immigrants. tion but the trend In all these countries, governof migration work that we see ments struggle to deal with the today appears to have originated rise of right-wing politics while from colonial policies of the 18th addressing the social alienation and 19th centuries. Faced with experienced by their migrant the challenges of having to quell populations especially those local opposition while at the of the second generation who same time co-opting locals to belong neither in their parents’ support their administration, country of origin nor in their colonialists found it easier to rely country of birth. on imported labour. These examples in Europe are The industry has not changed a precursor of what we should much. Foreign workers in expect if we want to continue emMalaysia are allowed into the ploying foreign labour or promotcountry on a temporary basis. ing industries that rely heavily on Their toil is required but nothcheap migrant labour. As with ing else – they are not accepted many of the migrants who came into society even though many to Malaya for work two centuries live in our homes and nothing is ago and eventually remained as planned for their future. I once citizens, the same possibilities attended a press conference by must be considered for migrant a minister who insisted that workers who spent years toiling although Bangladeshi workers for us. If we are unwilling to do are allowed to work in the counthis, it is time to cut the reliance try for up to seven years, they are and focus on building industries not allowed to have any marital that are skills based and adapted relations locally. To believe that to local skills levels. This means people can spend time abroad also that we have to stop creatfor years and form no personal ing artificially low-cost bases by relations is naïve to say the least. importing workers, depressing At worst, it was a calculated form their wages and exploiting their of rights denial. humanity. Certainly, Malaysia is not the only country that faces this predicament of wanting to benefit Comments: letters@thesundaily. from the labour of foreign workcom ers without having to provide for them socially. Countries in Europe have been facing this dilemma for decades after the We believe that the young liberal policies of should have a say in how things the post-WWII years opened the doors are run, because they have to migrant workers everything at stake in our futo fuel reconstructure. This column creates that tion and growth space for our panel of bright demands. However, once young sparks to debate issues these jobs dried up that they feel strongly about. and the workers were unwilling to leave after