Malaysia rethinks ban on Indonesian workers: Report
Malaysia rethinks ban on Indonesian workers: Report
Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia is likely to lift a ban on Indonesian workers in the construction industry because a crackdown on illegal immigrants has hit the sector hard, a report said on Tuesday.
A cabinet committee on foreign workers recommended the move after appeals by property developers, who have warned that delays in major projects could cost millions of dollars and house prices could increase by up to 10 percent, The Star newspaper reported.
"The approval for the recruitment of Indonesian workers is expected to be announced by the Home Ministry soon," the newspaper quoted a source as saying ahead of a review of the recommendation by the full cabinet Wednesday.
The scarcity of laborers is a result of harsh new immigration laws which sent 300,000 illegal immigrants home in the past few months and a government ban on hiring Indonesians in the construction industry after two riots early this year.
Illegal Indonesian immigrants made up 70 percent of the building industry's 500,000 foreign workers, according to the vice president of the Master Builders Association of Malaysia, Patrick Wong.
The association, which represents more than 450 companies in the building industry, had submitted a request to the government to allow employers to rehire Indonesian workers on a legal basis.
"We want the existing workers, because they have been trained. If we get a new worker, even if he is from Indonesia, we will have to spend several more months training and this will further slow down the projects," said Wong.
Human Resources Minister Fong Chan Onn told AFP the government was aware of the severe shortage of workers in the construction industry and would resolve the problem in the "shortest possible time.
"We will facilitate the intake of new foreign workers, shorten the process of approval, and widen the source of intake to include Vietnam, Myanmar, Nepal and so on," he said.
Meanwhile rights groups and businesses increased the pressure on the Malaysian government on Tuesday over new immigration laws that Amnesty International has called "cruel" and construction firms have said would cost the industry millions of dollars.
The two-pronged assault came as 13 illegal immigrants, mainly from Indonesia, became the first to be sentenced to caning and jail terms under the new legislation effective from Aug.1.
"Whipping someone with a cane is cruel, inhuman and degrading. International standards make clear that such treatment constitutes torture. Such a punishment should have no place in today's world," Amnesty said in a statement.
Under the new immigration laws anyone found guilty of illegal entry or harboring illegal immigrants will face a mandatory six months in jail and possibly up to six strokes of the cane.
The first to be sentenced were two Bangladeshis and five Indonesians, who last week received jail sentences ranging from six months to two years, and between one and two strokes of the cane each.
Six more Indonesians were sentenced on Monday to six strokes of the cane each and jailed for eight months, The Star newspaper reported.
The government says more than half an estimated 600,000 illegal workers went home under a fourth-month amnesty ahead of the introduction of the new laws. However, Amnesty International said it was concerned that "other undocumented workers and asylum seekers are at risk of being whipped".