M Kula Segaran took his successor to task for the “vulgar, unwarranted, harsh” statement on the marginalised undocumented migrant community.
Kula, who served as human resources minister in the Pakatan Harapan government, pointed out that previous governments had granted amnesty to undocumented migrants.
This included the Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional administrations, under which Saravanan served.
“Is he saying that those governments are stupid as well?” the Ipoh Barat MP asked.
Kula said Saravanan should look into the plight of undocumented migrants in the country, adding that if Putrajaya was serious about eradicating forced labour, it needed to deal with the community.
Undocumented migrants, he added, must be legalised and protected under the law.
“It is no use having the best labour laws and system when you don’t provide protection to undocumented migrant workers who need these laws the most,” he told FMT.
Saravanan earlier today called the idea of legalising undocumented migrant workers as stupid, adding that the best action was to deport them to their country of origin.
He said legalising undocumented migrants would see more coming into the country and the government should not encourage “illegals to come to our country”.
Klang MP Charles Santiago also slammed the minister for making such remarks, arguing that it was “far stupider” to ignore the good idea of legalising undocumented migrants into the workforce.
“Undocumented workers are already working here. Plus there is an urgent need for tons of workers,” said Santiago in a tweet.
“So for heaven’s sake, legalise and mobilise these undocumented workers to the firms who need them.”
Meanwhile, migrant workers’ rights activist Adrian Pereira said Saravanan did not understand international migration issues.
About 99% of undocumented migrants in Malaysia were victims of human trafficking, he said.
“So the minister is showing that he is being poorly advised (on the matter),” the North-South Initiative executive director told FMT.
Pereira said he was also shocked that Saravanan had dismissed the idea of legalising undocumented migrants as the country had carried it out before.