Masum Billah :
Malaysia is the rising star of South Asia. It one of the wealthiest countries of this region has been a magnet for migrants from neighboring Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar and South Asian nations, such as India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Many people enter Malaysia by sea. Since the country’s extensive coastline is difficult to police, some abuse their travel permits by overstaying and then trying to disappear among the thousands of documented migrant laborers employed at plantations or factories. Malaysia has long relied on foreign labor to fill low-wage jobs that locals don’t want, mostly in plantations, construction and some service sectors. But hosting large foreign workforce strains public services, such as security, health, transportation and education. After retaining power in May’s national elections, Prime Minister Najib Razak, slashed subsidies on gasoline, diesel and sugar and curbed other federal spending to tighten government finances. He has proposed several steps to scale back government spending, include a 10% reduction in the entertainment allowances of federal ministers and senior bureaucrats. According to estimates released by the home ministry, daily food and administrative costs for housing about 68,000 undocumented foreign workers in 10 detention centers across the country total nearly $731,000. If medical expenses are included, the daily cost swells more than this figure. That amounts to around 1.0% of Malaysian government expenditures earmarked for 2014, said Rajiv Biswas, Asia-Pacific chief economist at global consultancy.
So, Malaysian government started conducting a countrywide drive against the illegal immigrants to ease the pressure of their economy. They have arrested 16,400 undocumented foreign workers since launching the drive aimed at apprehending and swiftly deporting nearly half a million immigrants who had entered the country illegally, said Saravana Kumar, a deputy-director at Malaysia’s Immigration Department. About 1.3 million of an estimated 2 million undocumented foreign workers had registered with the program, which started in October 2011 and ended in September of last year, according to government data. However, only about 500,000 received legal documentation, while around 330,000 were repatriated. Under the current drive, immigration authorities aim to arrest and deport about 400,000 illegal immigrants and 45,000 employers, partly to help cut surplus labor and trim the huge social costs that arise from hosting a population of foreigners that comprise more than 16% of the total workforce in a nation of about 29 million people.In addition to its illegal immigration drive, Malaysia has also been tightening employment rules for unskilled foreign workers. Migrant workers totaled nearly 1.6 million in 2011, down 23% from 2 million in 2007, data from the Ministry of Human Resources shows.
The crackdown, which began on January 20 , also marked the end of a program launched more than two years ago that allowed illegal immigrants to register for amnesty. Those who registered and showed up for further processing under the program, known as “6P,” could have received legal working documents or faced voluntary deportation. Of the nearly 6,150 people inspected by immigration officials, more than 1,560 were arrested. Their offenses included traveling to Malaysia without documents, holding a fake working permit or visa overstays, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told a press conference. Most of them came from Indonesia, Bangladesh and Myanmar.Those arrested and set for deportation will be barred permanently from entering Malaysia. The Philippine embassy in Kuala Lumpur has intensified its efforts to reach out and provide assistance to Filipinos that have been affected by the crackdown.
These efforts include conducting consular outreach missions in areas where there is a large concentration of Filipino workers and making social services available to returning Filipinos. But the role of Bangladesh mission and the government in this regard is really appalling . When the illegal Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia are in real distress it is unbecoming of our overseas minority not to stand beside them and provide legal support. It continues to remain rigid on the point that these workers did not legalize their papers even though they had they were given the opportunity to do it. But we think the overseas ministry could help them when the Malaysian government declared an amnesty. The Bangladeshi mission could have helped them as they are not conscious enough about this official procedure. We should rather think our economy gets fatten because of the remittance sent by these unskilled labourers. We frequently hear the peculiar stories and roles of Bangladeshi missions abroad. I can remember that Bangladesh students and scholars in the USA told me that they rang more than fifty times in the Bangladesh embassy but nobody responded. When this is the situation of Bangladeshi mission in the USA, we can easily guess their role in the countries where our labourers work.
It is already learnt that the deportation and repatriation cost will not be borne by the Malaysian government, but by their employers or the respective foreign embassies. But our ministry has already told that they will not stand beside them. The Malaysian government has said that the illegal’s without valid travel documents and valid work permits had been detained under the Immigration Act 1959/63, Passport Act 1966, Immigration Regulations 1963 and Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 (Amended 2010).The operation carried out with the relevant enforcement agencies will continue until the year-end to detect, detain, charge and deport foreign illegal migrants.
According to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, around 0.7 million Bangladeshis have legally gone to Malaysia since 1976. More than 300 Bangladeshis have been held in a nationwide crackdown against illegal immigrants, reports Malaysia’s state news agency Bernama. Illegal immigrants detained under Phase 2 of the 6P Integrated Operation will have their identity recorded in the biometric database system to prevent their re-entry into Malaysia. Home Minister Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said all illegal immigrants nabbed in the nationwide crackdown would be deported to their countries of origin within seven days. Our overseas ministry and the Bangladeshi mission must play a meaningful role during this critical juncture of our migrant workers. Without any doubt we can say that they have kept the wheel of our economy running at the cost of the sweat and pains. We cannot afford to ignore their sufferings.
(Masum Billah is Program Manager: BRAC Education Program and Vice- President: Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association (BELTA), Email: [email protected] )
