Crisis-hit Asian nations move to expel foreign workers<\/p>\n
Once in great demand, foreign workers are being shipped back
\nhome as Asian countries feel the impact of the financial crisis
\nengulfing the region. Mohan Srilal reports for Inter Press
\nService.<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE: For years, armies of foreign laborers who take on
\njobs from building skyscrapers to cleaning house, have flocked to
\nSoutheast Asia's newly rich countries in search of better paying
\nwork.<\/p>\n
But as the region's currency and economic jitters take their
\ntoll, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are moving to discourage
\nor even reverse this flow of people from other parts of Asia.<\/p>\n
Hardest hit by an economic slowdown since July, Thailand is
\npreparing a plan within three months to fire overseas laborers,
\nmostly from Indochina, and replace them with Thais in a bid to
\nease unemployment pressure at home.<\/p>\n
Singaporeans and Malaysians are wondering how long they can
\nhang on to the luxury of keeping foreign domestic help, as their
\ngovernments tighten rules for their employment.<\/p>\n
Singapore, a city state of 3.5 million people, has 100,000
\noverseas born maids that are part of a total of 450,000 foreign
\nworkers. One in seven households here has a maid, most likely
\nfrom Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar or Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n
Neighboring Malaysia has 140,000 foreign maids from these
\ncountries and some 2 million foreign workers, of whom 800,000 are
\nillegal. Malaysians have been asked to drastically cut their
\nunskilled labor force, which officials call a drain on financial
\nresources and a contributor to the current account deficit
\nthrough the earnings they send home.<\/p>\n
In a recent editorial, the Malaysian daily New Straits Times
\nsaid: \"Malaysians will no doubt support such a policy, for
\nclearly we are now in the throes of being swamped by foreign
\nworkers, bringing with them social, economic, political and
\nsecurity problems for the country.\"<\/p>\n
Once welcomed for their willingness to work, often at pay
\nrates lower than usual, foreign workers in Southeast Asia are
\nbeing told it's about to go home.<\/p>\n
The trend underlines the risks that go with being a temporary
\nworker in a foreign land, one whose work is useful but who is
\namong the first to go when prosperous economic times are
\nthreatened.<\/p>\n
In the months since Asia's currency crisis began in July,
\nforeign workers have increasingly been transformed from people
\nwho help plug growing labor shortages to those who snatch jobs
\naway from suffering locals.<\/p>\n
Likewise, governments have long turned a blind eye to illegal
\nworkers in countries like Thailand and Malaysia until now.<\/p>\n
Reports say 6,000 Indonesians were detained in late November
\nin a crackdown on illegal workers in Malaysia. Likewise, labor
\nactivists say foreign construction workers, who make up 70
\npercent of registered migrant laborers, have begun to be
\nretrenched in once bustling work sites in Malaysia.<\/p>\n
When the currency crunch first hit Malaysia, the government
\nfroze the hiring of all foreign maids but revoked it under
\npressure from maid recruiting agencies. Since then, the Malaysian
\ngovernment has moved to tighten laws on hiring foreign maids.<\/p>\n
Human resources minister Lim Ah Lek is drafting an amendment
\nto the Employment Act of 1995 that would require employers to
\nretrench foreign workers first. \"This amendment is also part of
\nour measures to stop dependency on foreign workers and to reduce
\nthe outflow of our money,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Activists say that even laborers with valid work permits risk
\nbeing laid off. Aegile Fernandez of the non government agency
\nTenaganita says that after being laid off, many workers are
\nunable to go home because their documents are held by employers.<\/p>\n
International trade minister Rafidah Aziz has also warned
\ncompanies not to employ illegal foreign workers, saying those who
\ndo were \"doing a disservice to the country\".<\/p>\n
To discourage the hiring of foreign maids, the Singapore
\ngovernment in November announced an increase in the monthly levy
\ndue from those with foreign domestic help. The levy was hiked by
\nnearly US$10 to US$220, will henceforth will be increased yearly,
\nthe labor ministry said.<\/p>\n
Singapore's move to go slow on hiring foreign domestic workers
\nis unlikely to come easy, though.<\/p>\n
As debate rages on whether working parents should use child
\ncare centers instead of hiring maids, many working mothers have
\nwritten to newspapers and rung up talkback radio shows to
\ncomplain about the standards and steep cost of child care.<\/p>\n
If Singapore wants its highly qualified women to continue to
\nwork, then it must provide better child care, they argue. \"There
\nare great differences between employing a maid and placing
\nchildren in child care,\" reader Siew Ngung Chia wrote to the
\nStraits Times newspaper. \"The cost of sending two children to a
\nchild care center can be a major financial burden.\"<\/p>\n
Child care services cost from $222 to $382 a month, while one
\ncan employ a foreign maid for a monthly salary as little as $115,
\nplus the government levy.<\/p>\n
\"Working parents will find that employing a maid is value for
\nmoney because she can also help them in housework,\" Siew points
\nout. The maid's presence allows the mother to spend time with her
\nchildren after work, instead of doing housework, she added.<\/p>\n
For now, Singaporeans are not convinced that employing a
\nforeign worker is a drain on the economy. And since the Singapore
\ndollar has not been battered like the other currencies, they
\nstill believe that a wealthy nation can afford to pay others to
\ndo work viewed as drudgery.<\/p>\n
The government has also increased the levy for unskilled
\nforeign workers to $300 per month, even as it lowered the levy
\nfor highly skilled foreigners to work here.<\/p>\n
The crackdown on foreign labor in Malaysia and Singapore is
\nbound to weigh heavily on Indonesia, where financial instability
\nforced the government to seek a bailout package led by the
\nInternational Monetary Fund of more than $30 billion.<\/p>\n
Loss of jobs overseas could hurt a key source of dollars for
\nIndonesia the $2.5 billion that its workers, mostly in Malaysia,
\nSingapore and Saudi Arabia, remit annually.<\/p>\n
Likewise, the job picture at home is not the best. Indonesian
\nillegal workers in the Middle East were sent home recently,
\nadding to the number of people searching for work. Some 50 firms
\nhave also sought government approval to fire more than 10,000
\nworkers.<\/p>\n
-- IPS<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/crisis-hit-asian-nations-move-to-expel-foreign-workers-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }