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Undocumented Migrant Workers

Success of Malaysian amnesty in doubt

PORIMOL PALMA, from Kuala Lumpur
Malaysian human rights and migrants' organisations yesterday expressed sheer doubts over the achievable success of the country's declaration to provide amnesty and regularise foreign workers, saying the process involved lacks proper planning and clarity.
Malaysia, in June, first declared to start a registration programme for the undocumented foreign migrants from July 11. The date was then shifted to July 18 and finally to August 1.
“There are too many unanswered questions, uncertainties and doubts shrouding the amnesty programme," said Dr Irene Fernandez, executive director of Tenaganita, a migrants and women rights organisation in Malaysia.
Speaking to reporters at her office at Petaling Jaya in Kuala Lumpur, she called upon the Malaysian home ministry to halt the programme.
The government is not clear on what it wants to achieve and how both the migrant workers and employers could benefit, said Irene.
Due to the various changes made in the last one and a half months, embassies of the migrants' countries are unsure on what advice they should give to their nationals, she said.
To take opportunity of the programme, undocumented foreign workers have to register with the Malaysian immigration department where even their fingerprints would be recorded. They can then return home without facing any penalty or continue work
The programme is significant for Bangladesh, as there are around 500,000 Bangladeshis working here, of whom an estimated 300,000 are undocumented. Bangladesh has been asking Malaysia for a long time to regularise them.
There are an estimated two million undocumented foreign workers in Malaysia, 50 percent of the total foreign population in the Southeast Asian nation.
Though initially supposed to register only undocumented foreign workers, Malaysia decided and started registering all the regular foreign workers too in mid-July to create new identity cards for them by July 31.
With registration of the documented migrants, the focus has been shifted. It appears that the government cannot complete registering the documented onesbyjuly31,saidlrene.
The reason provided for shifting the registration date of undocumented migrants to August 1 was that the machinery was not ready and 5,000 personnel needed to be trained, she said.
“Why were these basic aspects of the programme not addressed at the planning stage?” she questioned.
The rights activist said the amnesty programme would fail if the root causes behind why the huge number of migrant workers remained undocumented in the first place are not addressed.
Many Bangladeshi workers were hired in Malaysia without genuinely assessing the needs. They were brought here but the outsourcing companies did not manage their work permits, making them temporary workers, she said.
She pointed out that the registration requires each undocumented migrant to pay 400 Malaysian Ringgits, while 2,000 to 3,500 Malaysian Ringgits for work permit.
"Corruption still remains a strong factor both in issuing approval (of jobs) and visa manipulation. The question that arises is whether this whole amnesty programme is a way to make money. Who will make money and for what purpose?" she questioned.
Referring to the 300 companies appointed to register the undocumented foreign workers, Abdul Aziz, a trade union leader, said most are outsourcing companies who caused immense sufferings to Bangladeshi workers recruited in 2007 and 2008.
There were fake companies that did not have actual jobs to offer and so the workers who arrived were exploited, he said.
Kopila Goutam of Nepalese Labour Organization said the Embassy of Nepal in Kuala Lumpur was asking workers not to pay any money for registration, but middlemen were charging from300 to 700 Malaysian Ringgits.
Malaysian Hade Union Congress in a statement said the government should utilise this amnesty to analyse and document the breaches and illegal activities.