The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is appealing to the Malaysians to show compassion, care and respect for the migrant workers, who are here legally.

The ILO appears to be seriously concerned about the negative attitudes of the people in our part of the world, including Malaysia, towards the immigrants, which, it fears, might lead to disastrous consequences to all concerned.

To correct the people's perspective of the immigrants and to make the Malaysians understand the immigrants’ contributions to the Malaysian economy and society, the ILO, in partnership with a local Public Media Agency (PMA), has launched a campaign titled ‘Migration Works Campaign’ (MWC) 2016 and its theme is ‘Working Together, Walking Together: Migration Works for Us All’.

Last Thursday (March 3), PMA held a dialogue session with the journalists of the Tamil media in Petaling Jaya.

At the session, the PMA representatives presented their case, stressing the importance of Malaysians taking a re-look at their attitude towards the migrant workers in the country as a survey conducted in Malaysia showed their unhappiness with the migrants. According to the survey:

  • Only 38 percent of respondents felt that migrants make a net contribution to the economy;
  • Seventy-two percent felt that authorised migrant workers who do the same job as national workers cannot expect to have the same pay and working conditions;
  • The majority also felt that migrants commit a high number of crimes and that migrants are threatening the country’s culture and heritage;
  • Twenty percent had educated their friends or acquaintances about some positive aspect of migrant workers;
  • However, only 17 percent had helped a migrant to integrate or get ahead;
  • Fifty-eight percent had some kind of relationship with grants.

The PMA representatives stressed the point that Malaysia had always benefitted from the labour of immigrants and it is time that there is reciprocation on the part of the Malaysians.

Further, they made it a point to state, “The ancestors of a sizeable proportion of the Malaysians of today were migrants.”

‘Blame it on the government’

There are millions of immigrants, both legal and illegal, in this country. Were they brought in to be everywhere, anywhere and do anything, or were meant for certain industries which required additional workers?, the Tamil Media journalists asked in unison.

Generally, Malaysians are not against immigrants. Immigrants are our fellow-human beings - “our sisters and brothers”, they stressed.

There are many motives, declared and undeclared, for allowing, legally and illegally, immigrants into the country to serve the interests of the employers and the influential people of all shades, the journalists pointed out.

Malaysia needed immigrant workers to fill in vacancies, not to make the local workers to vacate their jobs, so that the immigrants could be employed for a pittance, said the journalists.

The under-paid, sometimes not paid at all, immigrants are left with no choice at all but to do something to keep themselves going. They are forced by the circumstances in which they find themselves to do all sorts of things, which trigger the angry reactions of the Malaysians against the immigrants, the Tamil media journalists insisted.

They contended: “It is all because of the government.”

“Singapore has immigrant workers. You do not see or hear there in Singapore the things you see and hear in Malaysia. What has the ILO to say about that?”, they asked.

Why not ask the government?

The campaign to create awareness amongst the people of Malaysia on matters concerning the immigrant workers is good and welcome, “Why has the ILO not addressed its concern over this matter to the government of Malaysia, which is responsible for this whole saga?”, they asked.

Further, they pointed out that Malaysia is a member state of the ILO and it is duty-bound to consider and apply standards set by it. Malaysia even had honour of having one of its labour ministers, V Manickavasagam, serving as president of the General Assembly of the ILO.

On the matter of immigrant workers, they added that ILO Convention No 97, concerning Migration of Employment (revised 1949) sets out in detail what a member state as a host country should do and comply with in order to protect the immigrants.

It is most regrettable, the Tamil Media journalists said, that the Malaysian government has not even ratified the Convention No 97 to this date.

Apparently very annoyed, the Tamil media journalists told the organiser of the dialogue session PMA to state in its report to the ILO that it should take up the matter of outright exploitation of the migrants in this country with the government of Malaysia.