Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan revealed in the Parliament on November 11, 2013 that overseas remittances by foreign workers in Malaysia doubled from RM10 billion in 2009 to almost RM20 billion last year.
Our per capita income was USD10,387 or RM33,202 in 2012. If these overseas remittances were earned by Malaysians, it would increase our per capita income to RM33,916, a raise of RM714, which would bring a far reaching positive effect to our local economy.
Ahmad Maslan also mentioned that the top country with the highest number of over-seas remittance last year were Bangladesh, ie RM3.032 billion. However, according to the information that I obtained from the Parliament, there were 132,350 legal Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia as at December 31, 2012. In order words, each of Bangladeshi worker had remitted to their country a sum of RM22,667 per year or RM1,889 per month in 2012. This figure is too high to be real, which means the illegal Bangladeshi foreign workers might be 2 to 3 times more than the legal Bangladeshi foreign workers recorded in our country.
In addition to causing cash outflow, foreign workers also become a burden to our healthcare system.
The Ministry of Health has enforced the Hospitalisation and Surgical Scheme for Foreign Workers effective January 1, 2011, a mandatory medical coverage for all foreign workers with a premium of RM120 and a total coverage of RM10,000. For the foreign workers who have failed to pay for their medical fees, they are prohibited from renewing their working permits, and their employers will be blacklisted to employ new foreign workers. However, as at April 2013, there are still a large number foreign workers’ medical expenses are due to the Government hospitals because of poor enforcement.
In Sabah alone, the unpaid bill by the foreign workers have increased from RM21.54 million as at 2011 to RM40.9 million as at April 30, 2013.
Hence, these foreign workers apart from meeting our demand for human resources in the industrial, commercial, agricultural and fishery area, they have increased the hidden social costs. Over reliance on these foreign workers will also lead our economy system to remain as a foundry industry. Thus, the Government must take initiatives and comprehensive plans to address these problems incurred by the foreign workers.