One foreign troublemaker too many for Malaysia

One foreign troublemaker too many for Malaysia

The Star, Asia News Network, Kuala Lumpur

Attacking and wounding co-workers, employers, compatriots and
policemen seem to be routine for some very desperate foreign
laborers in this country. These crimes are not the exclusive
preserve of any particular nationality among the foreign "guest"
workforce, but Indonesians are somehow predominant.

Whenever these thugs feel offended for whatever reason,
property is destroyed, lodgings razed, and innocent people
assaulted. The reasons seem to matter little, ranging freely from
unmet demands and solidarity with other workers to sectarian
squabbles among themselves brought over from their homeland.

Sadly, this loutish behavior is not new. Malaysian
authorities, employers and members of the public have for too
long known of criminal gangs among these workers who terrorize
neighborhoods with their robbing and raping sprees.

However, this deplorable state of affairs has lately
deteriorated further. Besides individual cases of criminal gangs
and syndicates, there are now whole communities of workers
threatening and attacking Malaysian authorities, including the
police.

This latest problem sharpens all the others: Among them,
reduction of jobs for locals, crime, the spread of diseases
previously eradicated in the country, and a rise in poverty.
Deporting foreign workers is one solution, but this must ensure
that they do not turn their boats around and return.

It is true that only a minority of foreign workers in this
country are criminal in intent and behavior. But given the large
foreign workforce here, many of whom entered the country
illegally, even a minority as miscreants are too many.

Indeed, illegal entry itself is a crime. And if so many among
the foreign workforce have knowingly committed this offense, what
other crimes might they not commit?

The solution is not a simplistic one of abolishing foreign
labour altogether. The real issue is to prevent the louts among
them from entering the country in the first place, in whatever
guise.

The authorities must simply come down harder on the offenders.
The alternative is to see Malaysia as a nation of tolerant people
becoming a pushover for violent hotheads from neighboring
countries.

Some critics of authority tend to overplay the vulnerabilities
of foreign workers, to the extent of regarding all of them as
simply victims of universal injustice. But this is only to turn
all explainable behavior, including violent crime, into excusable
conduct.

Let us not make that mistake. And let us remember that the
troubling circumstances demand that we demonstrate an unerring
firmness, clarity of purpose and an unflinching consistency in
enforcing the law.

Anything less would send the wrong message to all prospective
offenders. Anti-social behavior is not to be tolerated among
guests -- if such conduct is not condoned in the workers' own
countries, why should Malaysia have to put up with it?

Let everyone also be reminded that foreign workers are in this
country at the behest of the Government and people of Malaysia.
The workers are not here as an act of selfless sacrifice to help
Malaysia develop, but as a privilege to seek better earnings for
themselves.

It is the responsibility of group leaders among the foreign
workforce to keep their intemperate colleagues in check. These
abusers of gainful opportunities must not be allowed to
jeopardize decent livelihoods in the interests of all.

Malaysia has embarked on the road of information technology,
which requires high skills and high productivity in an ever-
competitive world. Allowing a multitude of low-skilled workers
into the country for labour-intensive sectors indefinitely can
only hamper the nation's prospects for rapid and successful
development.