Malaysia a ‘deathly’ destination for migrant workers

By legalising outsourcing, the newly amended Employment Act will only subject migrant workers to further abuses.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has become a more dangerous destination for migrant workers with the recent passed amendments to the Employment Act, said migrant rights group Tenaganita to mark the International Migrants Day today.

Tenaganita director Irene Fernandez said the Malaysian government, already known for its dismal track record in migrant workers care, would subject them to further abuses with the amendments by legalising outsourcing.

“The recent amendments passed in Parliament to the Employment Act 1955 not only institutionalize outsourcing by recognizing labour contractors as ‘employers’ but also legalize forced labour through such form of employment.

“It is a known fact that the current form of outsourcing of workers through licensed companies has brought about clear conditions of slavery and forced labour where principal employers hold no responsibility to the workers,” said Fernandez in a statement.

The controversial amendments were passed in Parliament amid widespread protest by the opposition and unions who interpreted the changes as “pro-employers” and would “legalise discrimination in work places”.

The Najib administration, however, unheeded the calls for the amendments to be withdrawn and maintained the changes were good for the protection of workers.

Slavery and deaths

But Fernandez detested the supposed safeguards promised by the government, citing the thousands of abuse cases through the outsourcing process reported to the Tenaganita as proof of the ongoing violation of migrant workers’ rights.

“All the workers complained of non-payment of wages, some of them not paid for more than a year; many were locked up in the dormitories provided for by the outsourcing companies.

“Many of the workers had their wages deducted, some for as much as RM35 merely for water; and all of them had their passports in the control of the outsourcing company. These complaints amount to conditions of forced labour”.

Fernandez also reminded the government that it has done least to curb abuses of domestic workers that have led to hundreds of deaths being merely categorised as “sudden deaths”, without shedding light to the “horrific” conditions of their workplace and stay.

She also cited the Malaysia’s poor track record in dealing with human trafficking which provides employers with “slave labours” with no rights safeguards that “bonds them to conditions equivalent to forced labour and slavery”.

“We therefore mark International Migrants Day today by calling on the government to end its complicity in violence and slavery. We take note of this day to strongly urge ‘sending countries’ to see Malaysia for what it is – a destination country that facilitates the degradation of rights and dignity of migrants,” said Fernandez