One of the immediate hurdles is the government’s apparent reluctance to introduce a law that specifically protects domestic workers, according to Glorene Das, who has been Tenaganita’s executive director since Irene died in 2014.

Tenaganita has drafted a bill for the purpose and submitted it to the government for its review, but Glorene said Putrajaya didn’t appear too keen on it, believing that it is adequate to rely on existing laws that generally protect workers.

“But that is not going to stop us,” she told FMT. “We will push for it, not just with the Malaysian government, but also with the source countries, such as Indonesia, Cambodia and the Philippines.”

Tenaganita’s resoluteness in pushing for what it believes in is one of the legacies that Irene gave it.

Glorene readily acknowledges this. She regards Irene as a visionary whose thinking was 20 years ahead of her time. She said the organisation was continuing to evolve towards Irene’s vision of a Malaysia in which no one is trapped in slavery and all marginalised people – migrant workers, refugees, women, children – are finally heard and treated with dignity.

She said one of Irene’s dreams was to stop the criminalisation of foreigners working in Malaysia without legitimate permits. Glorene admitted that the struggle to achieve this would be tough.

“But we are not one to give up,” she said. “Overall, Irene wanted a Malaysia that treats all workers equally, regardless of immigration status, nationality, or religion.

“Tenaganita will always work towards that vision. We have a long way to go.”

Glorene also said many people erroneously thought of Tenaganita as an organisation that fights only for the rights of migrant workers and refugees.

“We also work a lot with local workers, such as local plantation workers,” she said.

“Because we do not have the funds, we are moving towards building communities who will have enough information to support and protect themselves. The idea is to make them self-sufficient at the end of the day.”

The year ahead will see Tenaganita making the same community-building effort specifically for the migrant communities. “We are looking at developing migrant leaders who will be equipped with information to protect their communities against exploitation,” Glorene said.

The organisation is also planning campaigns to get domestic work recognised as paid labour, to fight for the right of refugees to work and to call for the abolition of whipping as a mandatory punishment for undocumented workers.

It will continue with the legal management of cases of violation of the rights of migrant workers, refugees, women and children and will provide support to those affected.

“Just this year alone, we have handled 468 cases and we have obtained RM500,000 as settlement and compensation,” Glorene said. “The money goes to the trafficked victims, abused women and exploited migrant workers.”

She also said Tenaganita hoped to expand on its work with corporations and businesses to develop migrant and gender policies.