Malaysia's foreign workers: Mobsters and criminals?

Sin Chew Jit Poh, Asia News Network, Selangor, Malaysia

If I were an alien worker, why the hell am I in Malaysia? You are right. My home country is poor and the political situation there extremely unstable. In order to earn a living, I have to take all the risks I can afford to surrender the money I have tried very hard to raise, and my very own fate as well, to an intermediary who will make arrangements for me and my fellow countrymen to slip into this country. We have been damned lucky to have escaped the engulfing billows and sharks, and the watchful eyes of Malaysian immigration officials and police personnel. Here we are, earning for a hand-to-mouth existence while always on the hideout in Malaysia.

If I were an alien worker and if I were lucky enough to have arrived in this affluent country intact, I will do everything to cherish this opportunity to work hard and get some good money. In fact, most of our countrymen have done pretty well all this while. We are the most diligent and disciplined workers in the factory and we draw the least salaries among all. At the construction sites, we can climb higher, work longer hours and get lower pays. I have never thought that could mean any "contribution" to the host country, and have never looked forward to any gesture of appreciation from the local community. All I want is timely disbursement of my wages so that I can remit them home. As long as my family can lead a better life back home, I don't mind squatting in a cramped hostel.

If I were an alien worker, I must have heard that the Malaysian government has treated foreign workers very well. They said this has something to do with our common religious and cultural backgrounds. If I am lucky enough, I may even end up with a citizenship, they claimed. So I came, with all the hopes I have.

However, the reality can be cruelly different from what has been painted. Many people here despise foreign workers. Some of the maids have even been tortured by their employers. We have read many of these stories in newspapers.

If I were an alien worker, my fate may not be any better even if I don't end up working as a maid. It doesn't matter whether I hold a work permit or not, I may have to wake up in the middle of my sleep and be pushed up the police van. I lead a life that is not unlike the refugees' and often have to pose in front of reporters' cameras just to show how efficient their enforcers are. I also have to learn how to tolerate undue curses and violent acts, just like a convict in a prison.

If I were an alien worker, I have to get ready for the sudden raids by the police squads and be sent to do a urine test. I must refuse nothing and demand nothing. My life is not any different from that of an animal, devoid of self esteem and human rights. Some of my fellow countrymen could not take it any more and they turn unruly. But their misdemeanors have also implicated a lot of other innocent countrymen who have all been blacklisted by the locals -- "Any migrant workers from that country must be fierce, crime-prone, greedy and having a craving for rioting."

If I were an alien worker, I will cry out loud at the comments of the people here as well as the official statements made by their leaders. We have been living insignificant lives all this while and they are now trying to negate our value of existence altogether, saying "We don't need them" and taking drastic steps to kick us out of this country.

I am only a foreign worker that has not much value, made even less significant by the constant changes ordered by this country's lawmakers. And now, we are forced to put on the mask of a mobster and take on the role of an illegal migrant, as wanted by the people here. In the past, I was a diligent worker. But now, even I myself find it hard to come to grips as to who I really am. Maybe I am just a piece of tool which can be disposed of anytime.

If I were an alien worker.... Of course I am not. Because if I am a foreign worker, I may not even have the slightest opportunity to write you this account here.