From P Ramasamy

Mahatma Gandhi once said that the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way animals are treated.

Here in Malaysia we don’t have to go that far. The question is: how do we treat our foreign workers? It is an utter disgrace that employers in Malaysia are exploiting and ill-treating foreign workers.

It might not apply to all employers, but the behaviour and attitude of a small number of employers are enough to cast aspersions on all of them.

The case of a worker from Tamil Nadu, one Velayutham, is illustrative of what is happening to foreign workers in Malaysia, especially those employed in the labour-intensive sector. What was narrated by Velayutham is not an isolated case but the tip of the iceberg.

Perhaps it would take a royal commission of inquiry to establish the sad state of foreign workers and the causes underlying their present predicament. Generally, foreign workers are not paid well, have to work long hours and are punished if they slack in their work.

The ready availability of undocumented workers to replace the documented ones puts a lid on improving working conditions of foreign workers. The overall presence of foreign workers also stands in the way of improving the working conditions of local workers, especially their wages.

Velayutham was the lucky one who escaped to India to narrate his sad story. There are hundreds, if not thousands, who are unable to tell their stories of extreme human exploitation.

They suffer in silence. But we take for granted that the country and employers are providing yeoman service to these unfortunate souls. There are extreme situations, although they don’t get public attention.

Here, I am talking about foreign workers who might have just disappeared from their work places. Nobody knows what happened to these workers.

Workers are brought in to work in particular sectors, but they are constantly moved from one sector to another. It has become the norm for workers to be issued permits to work in particular sectors, but sooner or later they are assigned to other sectors by agents or employers, or both.

Human resources minister M Saravanan, who thinks that his ministry is trying its best to check and control the abuse of foreign workers, needs to explain why these workers are moved from one sector to another, contravening their employment permits.

The ministry, with its various departments and enforcement agencies, hardly makes an impact on improving the living and working conditions of foreign workers. There is no concerted attempt to check and enforce the laws broadly and effectively.

In the case of Velayutham, the response of Saravanan was typical. He said the ministry took immediate action against the party responsible for abusing and exploiting Velayutham.

But what about others who were abused and exploited?

What action is the ministry taking to ensure that foreign workers are treated with respect without being exploited? I don’t think that Saravanan can effectively answer this and other questions pertaining to the treatment of foreign workers.

The recruitment and migration of foreign workers are complex matters. The nexus between agents in foreign countries and those who are here determines the migration patterns, the nature of employment, the wage structure and related matters.

The employers are the biggest culprits, not all, but those in sectors that require cheap labour, long hours of work and, most importantly, pliant labour.

Restaurants in the country are infamous for using cheap labour, having long working hours and reduced wages. It is no wonder that the abuse and exploitation of labour is quite common in the food industry, especially in restaurants that place a premium on cheap and pliable labour.

What was exposed by Velayutham in the media was not really something surprising. It goes to indicate that Malaysia is certainly not the El Dorado for foreign workers.

With nearly 30% of the country’s workforce consisting of foreign workers, one can easily imagine the extent of labour exploitation and abuse.

The need for labour and dependence on foreign workers prevent the government from having the political will to check exploitation and abuse.

Saravanan knows that his ministry is incapable of ameliorating the difficult circumstances that foreign workers are caught in. Having transferred most of the authority on foreign workers to the home ministry, he has hardly any say on foreign labour, apart from some minimal enforcement powers.

I sometimes wonder why a country like India, a regional power, would want to depend on the earnings of its overseas workers. It is not that the Indian government is unaware of the terrible conditions of its citizens in foreign lands.

But yet the Indian government permits its citizens to travel and work abroad, especially those who are not educated and without skills. Indian overseas missions are a poor check on the terrible conditions of their workers.

Foreign workers, whether documented or not, are human beings who expect to be treated well and paid for their labour. Malaysia cannot pretend to be moving in the direction of democracy if its foreign workers are getting such a raw deal.

I feel sorry and ashamed of the treatment meted out to Velayutham by his employer in Malaysia.

P Ramasamy is the deputy chief minister of Penang and an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.