Two non-governmental organisations have given their support for the government's plan to issue identity cards for migrant workers, but said the move must also address wider problems linked to their lack of access to identification documents.

Labour rights organisation Tenaganita and human rights group Suaram said the plan to introduce special machine-readable identification cards for migrant workers is a "good idea" as it could help reduce harassment faced by workers whose passports are being held by their employers.

However, they said the government must implement the plan systematically to ensure that all parties involved - from employers to enforcement officials - accept the cards as an alternative form of identification.

The plan, which will affect all legally employed foreign workers in Malaysia, was announced by the Home Ministry yesterday to deal with the workers' need to retain some form of identification and that of employers who insist on keeping their workers' passports for security purposes.

Cost of cards

Tenaganita's migrant worker desk co-ordinator Aegile Fernandez said this is not the first time that the government has proposed an initiative to better monitor migrant workers.

She said the first attempt was made in 1998 but the plan fell through after implementation problems set in.

"In 1998, the government issued identity cards which bore the worker's photo, employer's name, worker's passport number and the validity period of the work permit," she said in a telephone interview.

"However it was terminated in 2000 because syndicates were cloning the cards for sale."

Fernandez said there were other reasons for the failed attempt. Firstly, only larger companies had complied with the requirement, leaving many other workers without identity cards.

The applicability of the cards was also not widespread, she said, thereby leaving workers without proper documentation to open a bank account or apply for other permits.

Thirdly, many police personnel did not recognise the cards and continued arresting workers for immigration offences.

"The new cards must be designed better than the last one. The government will have to deal with the problems faced during the implementation of the earlier card," she said.

While electronic cards may solve some of the problems of illegal duplication by syndicates and enable the cards to be more reliable, Fernandez said there is also the issue of the cost of issuing these cards.

"Employers should bear the cost but from our experience, the bosses usually deduct this from the workers' pay. This should not be the case because the employers are the ones who want to keep the workers' passports. The government will have to take action on this," she said.

Employment disputes

In addition, Fernandez stressed that the use of electronic ID cards may not necessarily resolve many other problems faced by workers, due to the employers' insistence on keeping their passports.

For instance, she said a number of employers had refused to return workers' passports when contractual disputes arose between them.

"Workers come to us with problems such as not being paid their wages or being wrongfully dismissed. It is very difficult for us to get their passports back. It makes it very difficult for us to make a case against the employer or to repatriate the workers," she said.

"In the past, we have had to apply for special travel permits for the workers and the government has not taken action against employers who do this...punitive measures have to be taken against errant employers."

Suaram executive director Cynthia Gabriel said the government would have to ensure that regulations on isssuance of the cards would have to be strictly enforced without exceptions.

She said ID cards must be issued to all workers, including those employed as domestic helpers.

"The ID cards are important to ensure that the workers do not get harassed by the authorities but this will only work if there is no corruption by those who want to profit from the system," she said.

Although the government has attempted to issue ID cards to all workers, the plan is currently only in operation for upper income workers who are given a gold expatriate card bearing their photograph and employment details.

However, during the controversial arrest of more than 200 Indian IT professionals by police in Brickfields last year, the relevance of the cards came into question when the Indian workers complained that the police had refused to accept the cards as an authentic form of identification.