PETALING JAYA: Several groups championing migrant communities have alleged that the Covid-19 crisis has made Malaysians more xenophobic than they were before.
Citing largely anecdotal evidence, they said they were appalled to note that the hatred of foreigners appeared to have intensified to a degree above the level reported by the International Labour Organisation last December.
Spokesmen for Caram Asia and its partner organisation, the North South Initiative, said some Malaysians were blaming migrant workers for the spread of the virus since they have always seen them as people who don’t practise good hygiene.
They would point to the many Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and Rohingya who attended the tabligh conference in Sri Petaling and chastise them for allegedly being late in seeking medical treatment, the spokesmen added.
They also said there was a lot of fake news regarding migrant workers, including claims that they threatened enforcers of the movement control order (MCO) with harm.
The spokesmen told FMT most incidents of xenophobia appeared in the form of racial slurs published online.
Sumitha Shaanthinni Kishna, the director of an NGO called Our Journey, said xenophobes resented the distribution of government aid to foreigners.
She said she had noticed the attitude on social media and had heard stories from the migrants themselves when she was handing out dry provisions and other forms of aid to them.
“They say these migrants should be locked up instead of being given aid,” she told FMT.
An organiser for Pertim, an association of Indonesian domestic workers, said she could confirm that ill feelings towards foreigners had increased since the start of the virus scare.
Identifying herself only as Nasrikah, she said: “There has always been a dislike of migrant workers for many reasons. But they are now blamed for the outbreak. Some are saying the migrants carry the virus because they are dirty.”
Nasrikah also said many part-time domestic workers had not been able to find work since the MCO came into effect.
“Prospective employers think these helpers carry the virus and are afraid to hire them,” she said.
Alex Ong, a coordinator for Migrant Care Malaysia, noted that individual members of the public were not the only ones displaying xenophobic attitudes.
He criticised some NGOs that recently complained about foreigners being allowed to live in Malayan Mansion and Selangor Mansion.
The NGOs learned about the presence of foreigners in the two apartment complexes when reading news about their being placed under an enhanced MCO.
“This is a form of xenophobia,” Ong told FMT. “I don’t think they deserve to be NGOs.”
He also recalled an incident in which members of a charity group told Migrant Care representatives they were distributing food only to Malaysians.
“They told us, ‘Sorry, it’s not for foreigners,’” he said. -FMT
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