DPM, good deeds cannot whitewash the bad, as much as bad deeds do not negate the good

What we fail to learn and re-learn is that no amount of good treatment that employers dish out to their foreign employees can remove the instances of abuses we have recorded on our soil. While we must continue to showcase the good stories, we cannot hide or deny the bad incidents that go contrary to human rights and humanity’s dignity to live and to work.

J. D. Lovrenciear

Tenaganita has highlighted the atrocities surrounding foreign labour in Malaysia. In the latest development its chief Irene Fernandez is being haunted in the media for having her story spilled on the Indonesian turf.

The Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Datuk Muyiddin has lambasted Irene Fernandez for seemingly having brought disrepute to Malaysia.

And as a backup, the main stream media is painting the town with many ‘feel good’ testimonies of how Malaysians having been caring for their foreign workers.

Now, the point that our leaders are grossly mistaking is that, just as much as bad incidents do not negate the good deeds, likewise no amount of good deeds can negate any atrocity we commit against humanity.

Reason and logic dictate that it would have been far more magnanimous of the DPM if he had rebutted by announcing that the authorities should investigate the claims made by Tenaganita and if necessary ensure an independent panel conducts the probe.

He could have gone to a higher plenitude of leadership if he even added that Malaysia takes a serious view of any mistreatment to foreign workers as the government is a champion of labour and human rights and that no effort will be spared in establishing the truth. 

And as a public relations gesture, he could have even issued a strong warning to employers who are guilty of such miscreants and on that same wavelength proclaim the feel good stories or testimonies. 

It would even have earned the DPM more brownies in the region too if he had gone the mile to invite independent and well respected individuals or organizations from Indonesia to sit on the panel commissioned to investigate expressed concerns affecting the dignity and honour of foreign workers in Malaysia.

Likewise, it would have slatted the main stream media as respected news millers if they had taken the middle path rather then being partisan to the very serious issues at hand.

But unfortunately the DPM chose to go after Irene Fernandez's throat. He chose to merely pipe-up the feel good stories.

The DPM now with his one-sided perspective only opens the floodgates of criticisms and allegations against Malaysia. Not only will Malaysians cry foul, but for sure the Indonesians who are committed to human rights and labour issues will raise the tempo against Malaysia’s treatment of Indonesian workers.

What we fail to learn and re-learn is that no amount of good treatment that employers dish out to their foreign employees can remove the instances of abuses we have recorded on our soil. While we must continue to showcase the good stories, we cannot hide or deny the bad incidents that go contrary to human rights and humanity’s dignity to live and to work.

Well, if the DPM feels that Irene Fernandez is not patriotic for exposing the sordid state of foreign workers in Malaysia, then what has he got to say about how Mongolian citizens feels towards us?

We had C4-ed a lone Mongolian woman, mother and daughter in our own backyard. Up to this date we have not seen to the speedy return of whatever remains of this poor Mongolian citizen’s body mass. Up to this date, the father of the late Altantuya is appealing in tears for justice and compassion.

Name us one Malaysian woman who was similarly annihilated in another country involving high-powered and highly-connected individuals and was declared in the Courts of Justice that motive was not essential in the case to deliver justice.

So if Mongolians say Malaysia is a dangerous country, what have we got to say to that then? Show them pictures of all the Mongolian tourists in Bukit Bintang?

We hear of foreign nationals complaining of all kinds of harassment – as reported by Tenaganita and also often traded at our local pasars.  But do we also get to hear of Malaysians being ill treated and abused in other countries?

Indonesia had threatened to withhold its people from coming here to work. Have we announced likewise for cases of Malaysians going to another land for their fortune hunting? Would the Indonesians be so dumb as to kill the goose for the golden egg?

So dear DPM, as a leader of the nation, you would do far better if you demonstrated responsible and honorable leadership traits. And the first trait is, when faced with a situation as in the likes of Irene Fernandez speaking to the Indonesian fraternity about the abuses in Malaysia against Indonesians, you must take the middle path.

You need to know that as much as the bad deeds do not negate our feel good testimonies, good deeds cannot whitewash the ugly instances of abuse against foreign labour in Malaysia. As ,much as there will be people championing the goodness of a nation, there will be equal interest in the mistakes and bad deeds that ruin and threaten a nation’s rating.

Are we saying that no foreign national ever so far died while in detention? Are we saying that no foreign national while under detention was ever molested, raped, or sexually discriminated? Are we saying that we never raped any foreign national? Are we saying that we never shortchanged foreign nationals of their wages?

If we have done wrong, we have done wrong. What matters is what efforts are being taken to correct our wrongs. Not what feel good stories we have got to trumpet.

in this age of the world wide web, what you utter in your backyard gets beamed across all over the world.

A national leader’s responsibility therefore is to safeguard the dignity and honour of his nation’s reputation. Where there is good, he proclaims with modesty; where there is bad he gets to the bottom of it and in acknowledging the issues and allegations, he puts in place decisive, corrective measures.

In denying outright the bad records we have by proclaiming that even Bangladeshis are coming in droves, is not only a politically wrong stance to take but also makes you sound just too hollow. By issuing intimidating remarks at a citizen who has a following in the international human rights fraternity only paints you in an unfavorable light, does it not?

Wonder who is your Public Relations advisor who seems to be certainly misleading you?