Rehiring plan not solution to illegal workers, says rights group

Discrimination, lack of vision and corruption are reasons why Putrajaya continues to grapple with undocumented migrant workers despite the end of the 6P amnesty programme just two years ago and now has to embark on a similar exercise, migrants' rights group Tenaganita says. Adding to these problems are unscrupulous employers who leave their workers high and dry when their labour is no longer needed, said the non-governmental organisation's director Aegile Fernandez. This contributed to the high numbers of illegals despite the 6P amnesty programme that ended in 2014 in which 521,724 migrants working without permits were registered, she said. "We get calls every day from migrant workers complaining about employers who flout the law and deny workers their rights, who withhold their wages and documents and who abuse them. "How many can we help?" she told The Malaysian Insider. Now Putrajaya is embarking on the Rehiring Programme for Illegal Workers, which started on February 15 and will run till December 31, aimed at legalising foreign workers who do not have documents, and assess the true number of workers needed by industries. Employers who have been using undocumented foreign labour will have to fork out RM1,200 to legalise each worker. But Fernandez said problems would continue as Putrajaya practised discrimination by rejecting or making the process more difficult for workers from certain countries. Fernandez told of attempts to re-hire Indian workers made at Putrajaya earlier this week after the rehiring programme started, which was turned down by officers who said that programme was only open to Indonesians and Burmese workers. "We were helping someone re-hire Indian workers and were told that it was not applicable and they had to return to India or to apply under the new hiring category. "Why is the government discriminating like this?" she asked, adding that such unfair policies were reasons why the number of illegal workers, which some estimate to be around two million, kept growing. Tenaganita's estimate was closer to three million, Fernandez said. Fernandez said there were employers flouting the law by not renewing their workers permits, and hiring and firing as they wished. She warned that these bad practices could get worse if the economy slumped further, saying that during the economic recession in1997, many employers just "chucked out" their foreign workers. Fernandez also said that currently, not all industries were in dire need of foreign labour. "Some in the manufacturing sector are adopting a wait-and-see attitude as business is down. "But the construction sector is facing a shortage as Indonesian workers are heading back to their country as the Indonesian economy is picking up." As such, she said it was high time Putrajaya sat down and came up with a comprehensive policy after completing its rehiring programme. "First and foremost, they need to allow rehiring for all foreign workers and not be selective. "Then they need to work out the numbers and find out what the needs of the different industries are, and then come up with a plan on how many foreign workers the country needs." Meanwhile, foreign workers interviewed said they or their friends were worried about being cheated of their money in attempts to get legalised. Abdullah, 42, from Bangladesh, has worked without a permit in Malaysia for more than 10 years. Currently a helper at a restaurant in Seri Kembangan, Abdullah said he faced problems under the government's 6P amnesty programme a few years ago, where he lost money. He said he was cheated of RM6,000 trying to get legalised through agents, and so had a few of his friends. "I want to work in Malaysia legally. But there's no room for me to do so," said Abdullah. Two friends from Bangladesh, Kamrul, 38 and Motaleb, 32, said they also had friends who worked illegally in Malaysia after their permits expired. "They applied under the 6P programme. But most of them were cheated of their money by the agents. Some of them went back home while some are still here working illegally," said Kamrul, who has a valid work permit and is a petrol station attendant in Serdang. He said his friends here who worked illegally hoped they could be rehired so that they could work with peace of mind. "Will government reopen the programme? My friends remain hopeful," said Kamrul, who has a 14-year-old son in Bangladesh and sends home about RM1,000 out of his RM1,500 monthly wage. He earns that much from overtime and allowances, and gets free lodging. One of the conditions under the current rehiring programme is that foreign workers seeking legalisation must already have found employment under a valid work permit that has since expired. The programme does not apply to undocumented workers who entered Malaysia illegally and who may have had a work permit but absconded from their employers. It also does not apply to illegal workers in Sabah and Sarawak. – February 21, 2016.]]>