Not just politicians behind the stink, but business allies too

 

Malaysia’s looking bad in the eyes of the world on many aspects of human trafficking.

Among other ignominies, we’re in the lowest rank of an American human trafficking scorecard, which has generated lots of noise, all unfavourable, and the ususal denials.

But our own official statistics on it aren’t good, nor are we doing very well with legal foreign workers either. Delays, flip flops and chaos in handling the matter are compounding the problems, especially with our two biggest suppliers, Indonesia and Bangladesh.

The impact of the foreign worker shortage is bad economically and socially. Some factories can’t run, some crops are left to rot, many restaurants, mamaks or otherwise, can’t open and families face disruptions due to the lack of domestic help.

We can’t seem to accept that we really do need foreign workers, that it’s a mutually beneficial relationship for all of us, and that managing the matter well is a critical national imperative.

Until we accept this, our policies will continue to be driven by nationalistic, even xenophobic, sentiments and political grandstanding.

We arrogantly delude ourselves that we’re doing our foreign labour supplier countries a favour, for which they should be thankful to us. But Malaysia is hardly a shining destination for foreign labour any more.

We stumble from one crisis to another, are haemorrhaging our own talented people abroad, and our foreign labour suppliers are hardening their attitude towards us.

Foreign workers do what locals don’t want to do – they take the hard, dangerous, dirty and low paying jobs. But these jobs are critical as they power our society and our economy, and while it’s easy to spew forth about automation and robotics, those are not realistic solutions for the near or even medium term.

Putting aside the lack of political will to solve this problem, there are regular horror stories from the corporate sector, too, that produce embarrassing headlines and even bans and boycotts on our exports.

Historically Malaysia has always been a favourite destination in the region for human trafficking, partly due to our long, porous and remote borders with our neighbours, and also our relative prosperity compared to them.

Most foreign workers arrive and work legally, even if many face exploitation by middlemen and even governments. Many others, however, arrive illegally, attracted by job opportunities and fellow countrymen already here, and are driven to take chances with human traffickers because of poverty at home.

However, the way foreign workers, legal or otherwise, are treated by some Malaysians, individual and corporate, is unacceptable. The companies involved are not just backyard factories, but listed corporations, multinationals and even government-linked companies.

Some of these companies are so profitable they could’ve easily treated their workers better. Many export to western nations, running the risks of boycotts and bans should they be accused of trafficking or poor treatment of such workers.

It’s a given that the better you treat your workers, the more motivated and productive they become. With the foreign workers’ low expectations, it’s really not that difficult to make them feel valued and appreciated.

They contribute immeasurably to our economy. They work hard, are cheaper and often better than locals, assuming you can even find locals to do the jobs. Their levies add billions to our treasury. To accuse them, as some have done, of using up government subsidies meant for locals is ignorant and plain unfair.

The rot in our political environment is spreading to our business environment too. Our problems with human trafficking and ill treatment of migrant workers must be seen as reflections of our arrogant and selfish collective national behaviour.

Putting principles and decency aside, we have seen how such attitudes towards human trafficking and migrant labour have real consequences on our international standing and hence our economic well-being.

Lately, jobs created in a surging Indonesian economy are keeping more Indonesians home. The depreciating ringgit also makes Malaysia less attractive for them. It’s not a given any more that we can get any number of foreign workers we want any time we want them.

Should we care about how foreign workers are treated? We should, because that’s the right thing to do, and also because those who mistreat them will mistreat their own fellow citizens, too.

If there are no consequences, or if they can pay their way out of any consequences, what’s there to stop them?

Fixing the problem requires an all-of-society approach, but the government must lead. However what we have seen so far has been mostly denials, bluster, conflicting statements and U-turns. And we can’t help but be suspicious of hidden agendas muddling up the picture.

So, on the one hand there are politicians who spend money without any care or concerns about how it’s made, and on the other business people making money without any care or concerns about fairness or impact on the nation.

It’s naïve to believe everything bad in Malaysia is caused by politicians alone. They’re often aided and abetted by a Malaysia Boleh bunch of business people who exploit our poor governance for profit.

Given that we’re all connected with foreign workers, from those working in our factories and plantations to maids caring for our families, we citizens must take responsibility too.

We’re already seeing pushbacks from our traditional suppliers of foreign labour, reflecting a stronger bargaining power on their part. These suppliers, especially Indonesia and Bangladesh, are able to offer more jobs to keep more of their own people at home.

This also gives them confidence and are hence less tolerant at being looked down by Malaysia. We can’t ignore this, as alternative foreign labour supplier countries are not a realistic short term option.

It’s sad to see some business people wringing their hands about how unfair and unjust our country is while at the same time profiting massively from their ill treatment of foreign workers.

This is the height of hypocrisy. They are as much a part of the problem as their patrons, the politicians whom they conveniently blame. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.