BN ready to manipulate foreign workers ‘vote bank’

The three million registered foreign workers could be BN's secret weapon, says Pakatan Rakyat.

IPOH: There are three million registered foreign workers in the country and the Pakatan Rakyat fears that the Barisan Nasional (BN) will use them as a vote bank.

Pakatan’s Perak chief Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin told FMT: “I fear that they might issue temporary MyKad to these foreign workers to (enable them to ) vote in the coming (general) election.”

Nizar said this was very plausible as there were allegations that BN has made some foreign workers citizens in Sabah so that they can vote in the elections.

“This is an open secret (the issuance of MyKad to foreign workers in Sabah), so what is there to stop them doing the same in the Peninsula?

“Besides, why is the BN more interested in giving priority to these foreign workers instead of local workers?” he asked.

Nizar said he also heard talk that the BN government was issuing temporary MyKad to Sabahans with local addresses in Selangor so they can vote in Selangor in the coming election.

Earlier, at a DAP national labour conference here on Saturday, Nizar warned the BN government not to underestimate the power of the workers in the country but to give them a better working atmosphere by changing the various labour laws that are stifling their basic rights.

Oppressed workers

He said that history has shown that oppressed workers in Africa and Middle East had revolted against their governments for a political change.

He said that the three elements that contributed to such public revolts in these countries were the level of corruption, abuse of power and media control by the governments.

He accused the BN government of following a racist policy in labour recruitment by giving priority to only one race instead of taking on a multi-racial outlook for racial harmony.

“Umno is promoting the Ketuanan Melayu by racial discrimination and racial polarisation among workers,” he said.

He claimed that the brain drain of Malaysians was also due to the import of foreign workers who readily worked for a monthly salary of between RM250 and RM350.

He said that Pakatan lawmakers would also campaign for the basic rights of the estimated 11 million workers in the country for a conducive employee-friendly environment.