NGO calls for transparency in migrant amnesty exercise

 

The human rights group Tenaganita has urged for greater transparency in the government’s Labour Recalibration Plan.

Its executive director Glorene A Das (above) warned that the lack of information could lead to conditions for deception and exploitation by unscrupulous agents and intermediaries.

“We urge the authorities to provide full information about the Labour Recalibration Plan and to implement them in a transparent manner so that the migrant workers can truly benefit from them.

“The authorities should also cease and desist from arresting and detaining migrant workers while the plans are in force,” she said, adding that the arrests are making a mockery of the plan.

She said this in a statement today in conjunction with International Migrants Day.

The government has launched the Undocumented Migrants Recalibration Plan on Nov 16, which comprises two components – the Return Recalibration Programme and the Labour Recalibration Programme. Both plans will continue until June 30 next year.

Under the latter component, undocumented migrants in Malaysia would be converted into legal migrant workers working for qualified employers.

After about two weeks, the plan has attracted 113 employers seeking to hire 17,292 workers.

According to Deputy Human Resources Minister Awang Hashim, migrant workers have left more than 100,000 vacancies since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, and fewer than 10,000 local workers have stepped up to replace them.

Meanwhile, Glorene hailed migrant workers as the backbone of Malaysia’s economy and has borne the brunt of the pandemic’s impact.

“They were the first to lose their jobs, often abandoned by their employers, excluded from any form of assistance provided to Malaysians by the government, confined to cramped, unhealthy accommodations or hounded by the authorities as criminals, and held in overcrowded detention centres where thousands were infected by the coronavirus and yet vilified as purveyors of the disease.

“At the same time, we continue to depend on migrant workers to serve us in our homes, care for our children, the aged, and the infirm.

“They are the invisible frontliners who keep our hospitals and public amenities clean and provide other essential services that enable us to continue with our lives.

“Migrant workers are indeed the unnoticed, unsung heroes especially during this time of the pandemic,” she said. - Mkini