Malaysia made to look like ‘modern-day slave masters’, says Kadir

 

Foreign workers are forced to work in deplorable conditions, such as cramped containers, by some employers in the country, as reported previously.

PETALING JAYA: Veteran journalist A Kadir Jasin said the country is being made to look like “modern-day slave masters”, after reports of mistreatment of foreign workers.

In his Facebook page, he added Malaysia is inundated with millions of foreign workers, many of whom the country does not need nor adequately accommodate.

“How much do we really benefit by having foreign investors building manufacturing facilities in our country that employ foreign workers?” he questioned.

Kadir was referring to a report by British newspaper The Sunday Mirror, yesterday on allegations of exploitation of foreign workers at an electronics factory in Johor that reproduces parts for Dyson vacuum cleaners.

Foreign workers at the Johor Bahru-based ATA IMS claimed that they share a room with 60 others, live in filthy conditions, and had to clock 186 hours overtime a month on top of the standard 48-hour working week.

Kadir said companies producing leading-edge components should be required to employ local workers so that locals can benefit from the technological know-how.

“Instead, we are being accused of being the centre for human trafficking and modern-day slavery for indiscriminately employing foreign workers,” he added.

Malaysia, he said is becoming more inhumane in its treatment of local and foreign workers in the name of progress and development, profits and wealth.

“Look at the shoddy construction work and the worksite fatalities all around the country,” he said, adding that standards and safety are no longer the concern as engineers and supervisors shirk their responsibilities, leaving the construction sites to the imported Indian, Bangladeshi and Indonesian workers.

Kadir said a handful of Malaysians may have made it into Forbes’ list of richest men and women in the world but that would not make Malaysia a developed and civilised country. - FMT