Malaysia downgrades RI workers

Malaysia downgrades RI workers

Julia Yeow, Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur

Indonesians will be hired only as maids and plantation workers
under a new Malaysian labor policy in the wake of a riot at a
textile factory, the government announced on Tuesday.

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Indonesians
would be replaced in other sectors with workers from Thailand,
Cambodia, Nepal, Myanmar, Laos, the Philippines and India.

Abdullah, who said Indonesians were previously employed in
almost all sectors, earlier held talks with representatives from
the private sector to explain the new labor policy.

"In the past we never restricted which sectors workers from
different source countries could work in, but now we have done
so," he told reporters after the session, adding that those
currently working could continue until their permits expired.

"We have told the private sectors that if they need to expand
their businesses, they should have factories that use more
automation and are capital intensive.

"Then there will not be the need for more laborers," he said,
adding that the government would limit the number of foreign
workers in the country "from time to time".

Malaysia was angered by a riot by 400 Indonesian textile
workers at their factory over drug tests on Jan. 17.

The factory riot was followed three days later with a rampage
by more than 70 Indonesian construction workers armed with
machetes at Cyberjaya, a hi-tech suburb south of Kuala Lumpur.

Abdullah, who is also home (interior) minister, added that the
government was tightening working visa entries as the country
wanted to reduce its dependence on foreign labor.

"We have certainly been very, very liberal (with visa
approvals). We are encouraging people to come to Malaysia ... but
we have to be more careful with applications of those who want to
come here to work."

The deputy premier said many foreigners had entered as
tourists and overstayed their visas, making it difficult for the
government to trace them.

"We will have to be more stringent (because) once their visa
period has ended they remain here as foreigners but without
documents. Then we have a problem."

Representatives from the private sector welcomed the new
requirements as a more systematic way of handling foreign labor
but warned that slashing the number of Indonesians could affect
the production of local manufacturers.

"The new policy balances out the sources of foreign workers
and tries to minimize labor, which is good," said Foo Say Jan,
chief operating officer of a factory producing air cooling
systems.

"But as for production, we can't tell yet how much they will
be affected because there are many factories that have really
high labor dependence," Foo told AFP.

Home ministry secretary-general Aseh Che Mat said last month
that Indonesians now make up 566,983 out of a total of 769,566
legal foreign workers in the country.

Labor experts in Indonesia on Monday expressed fears that
Malaysia's blacklisting of its workers would worsen Jakarta's
already acute unemployment crisis.