Civil Society groups including NGOs, Trade Unions and employers’ associations should welcome Home Affairs Minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s, offer to meet-up with them to explain the rationale behind plans to import 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers in the next three years.
This meeting is extremely crucial, as the entire strategy is wrong for many reasons. And it doesn’t seem to be clearly thought out as well.
The Eleventh Malaysia Plan stipulates that by 2020, about 1.5 million new jobs will be created with improvements in labor productivity and reduced dependency on low skilled foreign workers.
So the first question at the meeting for Zahid would be: how would bringing in 1.5 million workers help Malaysia meet its national ambitions and 2020 target?
Zahid said this entire exercise would be undertaken on a government-to-government basis. Contrary to the minister’s statement, reports in the Bangladesh media suggest that the import of the 1.5 million workers will be undertaken on a business to business process.
And what about Malaysian labor broker companies vying for the Bangladesh market? Will these companies be the go between for the Malaysian government to organize the movement of the 1.5 million workers? And on what terms and conditions?
The second question therefore is: who is lying?
There is a minimum of four million undocumented workers in Malayia. To top this, the government recruits workers from 13 other countries.
So Zahid’s next two questions are: what is the basis of bringing in more workers when there is an existing pool in the country? And will you stop recruiting workers from other countries?
Over many years we have seen Malaysia rolling out its welcome mat to foreign workers. And we have also witnessed the abusive treatment they receive at the hands of immigration officers and labor brokers including RELA, once the welcome mat is rolled back.
Zahid’s fifth question would therefore be: what are the extradition or amnesty efforts, when previous efforts have failed?
What is obvious is that the various ministries and governmental agencies are not on the same page. And it is equally obvious that Malaysia’s need to reduce the dependence on migrant workers has not been thought out clearly.
Most importantly, the government has not taken into account criticisms, such as the argument that bringing in a large number of migrant workers has a tendency to dampen wages of Malaysians.
And, one can’t help but ask if the agreement to bring in the 1.5 million workers to Malaysia is more about making money for labor brokers than addressing local market demands.
So here is the final question for Zahid: has the ministry conducted a Labor Market Needs Assessment Study to justify the number of workers required in the next years – a study that entails skill needs, requirement and gaps, including a projection of employment by industry and sector for the next years?
If Zahid dithers or is unable to answer all these questions, the stakeholders at the meeting should ask him to go back and do his homework first.