Malaysia may send foreign workers home

Malaysia may send foreign workers home

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Malaysia is considering expelling its foreign workers as the "cost" of the country's economic downturn, as an estimated one million people are threatened with unemployment, AFP reported yesterday.

"This loss means that foreign workers must give up their jobs to the locals," Deputy Home Minister Mohd Tajol Rosli Ghazali was reported as saying by The Star daily.

Tajol Rosli said the ministry had frozen new applications and renewal of work permits in certain service sectors except for domestic maids and plans to redeploy existing labor to the plantation and export-oriented sectors.

"Any foreign worker who has worked here for three years and has no criminal record may be redeployed to other sectors," he added.

Tajol Rosli said Malaysia's growing population of foreign workers, estimated at about two million, was caused by employers who wanted cheap labor as well as local workers who were too choosy.

"Back then, Malaysian workers only wanted highly-paid jobs but with the economic downturn, this may not be possible," he said, adding that the government could not afford to be generous to others in hard times.

The move to reduce reliance on expatriate labor was also partly to protect local graduates, Tajol Rosli said.

"The government wants to reduce the number of foreign workers and encourages employers to deport those who have finished their contracts and whose permits have expired," he said.

Foreign workers may also choose to leave voluntarily during the festive season at the end of this month but they would be barred from returning, he added.

Most foreign workers here are from Indonesia, Bangladesh, Thailand and the Philippines, and are concentrated in the agriculture, construction, services and industrial sectors. They account for 10 percent of the labor market.

Malaysia's move to repatriate workers may affect many Asian countries, who would no longer receive cash remittances from their nationals but the returnees would also need support and seek jobs that have become scarce amid the region's financial crisis.

Already in Jakarta, the crisis has resulted in an estimated 2.4 million people, mostly temporary workers in the property, construction and real estate sectors being laid-off.

In Thailand, which is suffering its worst economic recession in decades, thousands of Thais across all sectors have lost their jobs and the situation is forecast to get worse next year.

Unemployment is estimated to rise to 2.2 million people this year from 1.7 million in 1997. The government recently ordered employers to dispense with the use of illegal labor in bids to crack down on rising unemployment.

Manila fared better although industry leaders' warned that as many as 10, 000 people could lose their jobs soon but the government assured that there were no notices of large-scale layoffs.

The secretary-general of the opposition Democratic Action Party, Lim Kit Siang, asked for clarification yesterday.

"Sending home one million foreign workers and a loss of one million jobs are two different things," Lim told Reuters. "The government must make it clear as not to create more confusion."

"I don't know what is the rationale behind the move. This is quite a touchy issue," Abdul Razak Ahmad, deputy chairman of Parti Rakyat Malaysia, said.

"I hope the government will make a thorough study before carrying it out. Otherwise, there will be problems and this will only worsen the situation."