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."