KL faces difficulties with foreign workers<\/p>\n
By Stefan Klein<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (DPA): In the good old days when the terms
\n\"bankrupt\" and \"unemployment\" were still unknown in the southeast
\nAsian boom countries, Malaysia saw fit to erect a potent symbol
\nof its rise to glory. And so they constructed the highest
\nbuilding in the world in the middle of Kuala Lumpur.<\/p>\n
Those who built it were Bangladeshis, Indonesians and
\nFilipinos -- badly-paid foreigners who did all the jobs that the
\nlocals did not deign to perform.<\/p>\n
At the peak of its development, the Malaysian economy
\nattracted two million foreign workers, almost half of whom were
\nillegal. The government turned a blind eye, for while there was a
\nshortage of jobs in Europe, it was the other way round in
\nsoutheast Asia: there were more jobs there than workers to do
\nthem.<\/p>\n
Soon, 80 percent of Malaysia 700,000 building-site workers
\nwere foreigners. It was the same story in Thailand, where the
\nboom drew in more than a million foreign workers.<\/p>\n
Now the wave is supposed to roll back again. The once welcome
\nhelpers of yesterday have become parasites with the advent of the
\ngreat depression, depriving locals of jobs and the main
\nscapegoats for rising criminality and increasing of social
\nailments.<\/p>\n
This is the message coming from several countries whose
\ngovernments plan to send hundreds of thousands of foreign workers
\nback to their countries of origin to free up jobs for local
\nworkers.<\/p>\n
The main motive for this must be viewed as populist. In
\nThailand the numbers of unemployed could reach two million this
\nyear, in Malaysia one million. By clearing their markets so
\ndemonstratively of foreign competition the governments make a
\ngood impression.<\/p>\n
But beyond this the measures make little sense -- on practical
\ngrounds alone. Illegal aliens are hard to catch and having them
\nrounded up and sent to deportation camps -- which is what the
\nThai government plans -- unavoidably raises human rights
\nquestions. And once deported, they can easily return.<\/p>\n
Take the Myanmar people, who make up two-thirds of all illegal
\nforeigners in Thailand. They can return at any time, the 1,000-
\nkilometer green border is hardly an obstacle.<\/p>\n
It is also doubtful that the locals are eagerly awaiting the
\njobs made free by the expulsions. These are \"3-D jobs\" (dirty,
\ndifficult, dangerous) which are also poorly paid and thus belong
\nin the foreigners' domain.<\/p>\n
Many Thais and Malaysians shudder at the thought of having to
\ndo these jobs. Employers in the building and fishing industries,
\nfor example, are probably not too happy with their governments'
\nplans for deportations. After all, who is easier to exploit than
\nan illegal foreign worker?<\/p>\n
There are also problems for the deporting countries themselves
\nalso face problems, because they putting neighborly relations at
\nrisk.<\/p>\n
But the last word on the matter has yet to be delivered. On a
\nstate visit to Jakarta, Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir
\nMohamad declared that there could be no question of deportations
\non a grand scale.<\/p>",
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