Malaysia and Singapore have posed a united front at the Asean Summit in Cebu, Philippines: both are pushing for the bloc to leave migrant workers' benefits and working conditions for market forces to decide.

Since December, the Asean labour-sending countries - Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam - had sought to carve out through the Cebu Declaration on the Rights of Migrant Workers better terms and conditions for their nationals working overseas.

Malaysia and Singapore, however, the region's two main labour-recipients, are said to have insisted that the declaration which will be finalised and signed tomorrow, enshrines a market-determined approach to migrant workers.

Malaysia, in particular, is said to have been 'notably uncompromising' on its stand.

According to a source, Malaysia insisted on clauses that stipulate whatever provisions contained in the declaration will take effect only if they are in accordance with the laws of the labour-receiving country.

Malaysia had also moved for the deletion of all statements making reference to the families of migrant workers.

"To them, Malaysia will be open only to the migrant workers and not their families," said the source who declined to be named.

Malaysia had also moved to delete the terms 'non-discriminatory' and 'equal' pertaining to migrant workers' access to employment, protection, and wage protection and proposed in their place 'fair' and 'adequate'.

It had also sought to strike out the draft declaration's definition of migrant workers as defined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), saying Malaysia is not signatory to either the ILO or the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers.

"It shows Malaysia's policy of leaving it to the market forces to decide levels of (workers') compensation, which makes workers vulnerable to abuses," said the source.

Recognise contributions

William Gois, regional coordinator for Migrant Forum in Asia, was reported by AFP to have commented that migrant workers - the "backbone" of the region's economic success - were nevertheless treated miserably.

Undocumented migrant workers in Malaysia from Indonesia, Philippines and Myanmar are estimated at being more than 200,000, said Gois in the AFP report.

Asean should recognize the contributions made by millions of migrant workers to the economies of its members, he stressed.

"The problem for Asean is to come up with a document that will be taken seriously and incorporate labour standards including freedom of association, the right to organize and bargain collectively, and eliminate all forms of discrimination at the workplace," he said.

"Asean should also recognize that its people are not tradable commodities."

An opposition congressman from the Philippines - which, along with Indonesia, spearheaded the labour-sending countries in shoring up migrant workers' rights - said he hoped the value of the declaration would not have been watered down by tomorrow despite the position of countries such as Malaysia.

"The level of protection needed by migrant workers should not be compromised just to suit the whims and fancies of a single country that refuses to ratify the ILO and other UN instruments," Mujiv Hataman, from the minority Anak Mindanao party-list, told malaysiakini when contacted today.