MTUC Secretary-General N Gopal Kishnam claimed that the “expatriate” loophole was being exploited by those seeking to bring in migrant workers into the country.
He was commenting on an FMT report that Bangladeshis form the majority of the 166,817 foreigners working in Malaysia in “managerial” positions and at jobs requiring technical skills.
“Everyday, there are full flights from Bangladesh to Malaysia,” Gopal said, explaining that MTUC officials had visited various airports to observe what was happening on the ground.
“We spoke to the Bangladesh nationals and they told us that they had come to Malaysia as skilled and semi-skilled workers. However, they later told us that their salaries amounted to only RM1,000 a month, besides having to work 12 to 14 hours a day.”
He said the expatriate loophole had been exploited for over a year, but this intensified after the government froze the intake of foreign workers in February.
In Malaysia, employees recruited under the expatriate scheme must be paid a minimum of RM5,000 a month. The government uses the term “expatriate” for such management and professional employees, in order to differentiate them from foreign workers employed in jobs that pay less.
Last February, the government suspended the recruitment of all foreign workers after a public outcry against a plan to bring in about 1.5 million migrant 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.
Gopal stressed that locals were qualified and willing to do jobs foreigners were brought in to do, so long as they were paid a fair wage and had job security.
“The problem is that jobs are offered on a contract basis and this means a lack of job security.”
He added that governments and local authorities should hire workers for such jobs rather than outsource them to private companies who use foreigners.
Earlier today, it was reported that a recent Human Resources Ministry report showed Bangladeshis accounted for most of the expatriates in the country, followed by 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.
In Malaysia, “non-expatriate” foreign workers are allowed to work in only five sectors – construction, manufacturing, plantation, agriculture and services.