By law, these employees must be paid a minimum of RM5,000 a month. They are categorised as “expatriates,” a term that the government does not apply to foreign workers employed in jobs that pay less.
In Malaysia, an expatriate is defined as a foreigner who is qualified for one of the following:
- A top managerial position in a foreign-owned company;
- A middle managerial position requiring appropriate academic credentials, working experience and practical skills; and
- A non-executive position requiring appropriate technical skills and working experience.
According to Home Ministry statistics published in a recent Human Resources Ministry report, Bangladeshis account for 62,110 expatriates or 37 per cent of the total expatriate workforce in the country.
There are also high numbers of expatriates from India, China, the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.
According to the report, most of the expatriates work in the services industry, followed by the construction and IT industries. It does not give the breakdown of expatriates in industries according to their nationalities.
Last February, the government suspended the recruitment of all foreign workers after a public outcry against a plan to bring in a significant number of workers from Bangladesh. Addressing the protest, authorities said industry’s demand for foreign workers was high because Malaysians were averse to dirty, difficult and dangerous (3D) jobs.
However, the Malaysia Trades Union Congress disagreed, saying that Malaysians were willing to do these jobs as long as they were paid decent wages. It pointed that there were more than 300,000 Malaysians working in 3D jobs in Singapore.
After the freeze was announced, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi challenged youths to take up 3D jobs so that the country could reduce its dependence on foreign labour.
In December last year, it was reported that there were 400,000 jobless Malaysians, with university graduates accounting for more than 150,000.
In Malaysia, “non-expatriate” foreign workers are allowed to work in only five sectors – construction, manufacturing, plantation, agriculture and services.
On Wednesday, Zahid said the freeze in the intake of foreign workers had caused businesses to lose RM24 billion, mostly in the plantation and furniture-making sectors.
He said the government had decided to exempt the infrastructure construction sector from the freeze.