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.