Govt in ‘denial mode’ about forced labour, says activist

 

The Malaysian rubber glove, electronics, garments and palm oil industries have been listed in a US Labor Department report.

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian authorities must work harder to deal with allegations of forced labour, say labour activists after Malaysia’s rubber glove industry was added to a US list of goods produced with forced labour.

North South Initiative director Adrian Pereira said a comprehensive labour migration policy was needed to lift Malaysia out of the bad books of global auditors and international regulators.

“We must remember that the mechanics of forced labour are deeply rooted in poor human resource management, corruption and very deceptive recruitment over the past 30 years,” he added.

The US Labor Department has alleged that the 42,500 migrant workers in the rubber glove industry are subject to a variety of labour abuses. Malaysia is the world’s largest rubber glove producer.

The human resources ministry has since said it does not condone or tolerate any act of forced labour, stressing that it has conducted statutory and impromptu inspections on major rubber manufacturing companies to ensure compliance with the law.

But Pereira said the minister can’t claim that ad hoc and typical inspections and meetings are enough to resolve forced labour in Malaysia.

Nothing less than a royal commission of inquiry would expose the abuses inherent in the management of migrant workers, he said.

Pereira said the Pakatan Harapan government of 2008-2020 had hidden the truth from the public by refusing to release the report of an Independent Committee on Foreign Worker Management.

The committee, sanctioned by the Cabinet, was set up in August 2018 and headed by former Court of Appeal judge Hishamuddin Yunus. It was tasked with coming up with recommendations on how to streamline migrant worker policies.

The report, which included 40 recommendations, was presented to the Cabinet last year but not a single proposal had been implemented up to June this year, according to former human resources minister M. Kulasegaran.

Selangor Anti-Human Trafficking Council task force member Abdul Aziz Ismail told FMT the issues outlined in the US Labor Department report are “nothing new”.

Calling for an audit of the industry, Aziz recounted an instance when a migrant worker from one of the country’s leading rubber glove manufacturing companies lodged a complaint with him over unpaid wages only to go “missing” later.

He was later found to be “locked up” by the company.

“The government is in denial mode,” said Aziz. “The government and enforcement agencies have full knowledge of these issues. Those who are detained (like this) are victims of human trafficking.”

Noting that the rubber glove, oil palm and electronic industries are major contributors to the Malaysian economy, Aziz stressed the importance of adhering to fair labour practices in order to avoid economic sanctions.

“The public will suffer if there are economic sanctions,” he pointed out. “If these three industries are gone, what will happen to the state?”

John Quinley, senior human rights specialist at Fortify Rights, an independent group focused on Southeast Asia, welcomed the human resources ministry’s public condemnation of forced labour after the “many reported abuses” happening in supply chains in the palm oil sector and in rubber glove factories.

Malaysia’s electronics and garments industry was included in the forced labour category and the palm oil industry included in the child labour category of the US report.

“Companies should do their due diligence and ensure there are no human rights abuses in their supply chains,” Quinley told FMT.

“Also the factories, at minimum, should provide compensation for the harm done and urgently end abusive conditions.”

Independent migrant worker rights specialist Andy Hall also hoped to see greater due diligence in the rubber glove sector.

Claiming that high recruitment fees are due to systemic corruption and extortion in both Malaysia and the migrant workers’ country of origin, Hall said it was highly unlikely that the industry’s stakeholders are unaware of such practices.

“These officials should have known with minimal due diligence efforts that this abuse was happening and (that) they have also been grossly negligent in failing to detect, prevent and remediate it,” he said in a statement.

“The rubber glove industry in Malaysia is not yet genuinely committed to ensuring much needed accountability for its own failings alongside the misconduct of its own management and staff.” - FMT