Thread: Malaysia to deport 0.5 million illegal foreign workers

Malaysia Launches Immigration Operation to Deport Illegal Workers
Half a Million Illegal Foreign Workers Targeted

By ABHRAJIT GANGOPADHYAY and JASON NG

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia—Malaysia launched a large scale immigration operation Sunday to flush out and swiftly deport nearly a half-million illegal foreign workers, its largest crackdown to date on low-wage migrant labor toiling at plantations and factories, at a time when the economy is showing signs of fatigue.

Suspected illegal foreign workers are arrested by Malaysian law enforcement officers during a raid in Klang, Malaysia, on Sunday.

The move signals the government’s resolve to separate the legal from the undocumented immigrant workforce in an effort to cut surplus labor and trim a huge social cost arising from hosting a large population of foreigners, who make up more than 16% of total workforce in a nation of 29 million people.

“In the first phase of this operation that will continue until this year-end, we plan to arrest and deport about 400,000 illegal immigrants and arrest about 45,000 employers of such workers,” said Saravana Kumar, a deputy-director at Malaysia’s Immigration Department. About 1,000 migrant workers were arrested across the country Sunday, Mr. Kumar said.

Malaysia has telegraphed the raids for more than a week and it is unclear how many migrants may have fled before the raids began. One of Southeast Asia’s wealthiest countries, Malaysia is a magnet for migrants from neighboring Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar and South Asian nations such as Nepal and Bangladesh.

The latest drive is targeting those who had registered under an amnesty program for illegal immigrants launched two years ago but never showed up for further processing, which could have included legalization or voluntary deportation. About 1.3 million of an estimated 2 million illegal foreign workers had registered. Of them, about 500,000 were legalized and 330,000 were repatriated.

Mr. Kumar led a team of 150 officers in predawn raids around the administrative capital Putrajaya and detained 71 foreigners without valid documents. Raids nationwide would include squats, farms, entertainment and massage parlors, he said.

In one swoop on a rickety settlement on the fringes of a palm-plantation, the arrival of a convoy triggered a chaotic rush among residents, some of whom tried to escape to a neighboring forest. Most were soon caught. Groups huddled meekly in handcuffs as their identities were checked.

“I have never experienced such a thing in the past six years that I have been working in Malaysia,” said Manik Sheikh, a Bangladeshi, who waited patiently. He was later released.

The often-illiterate workers can find themselves caught between potentially unscrupulous employment agencies and the risk of being apprehended by immigration authorities. This leaves them vulnerable to not being paid and mistreatment.

While states have internationally recognized rights to control borders and expel or deport noncitizens, human rights and labor standards “are quite explicit that basic human rights of all migrants should be respected, there is due process for each individual case, and no mass expulsions,” said Nilim Baruah, a regional migration specialist with the International Labor Organization based in Bangkok.

Malaysia has long relied on foreign labor to fill low-paying jobs that local people don’t want, mostly in the plantation and construction sectors. The British colonial rulers encouraged Chinese migrants to develop tin mining, while Indians were brought to toil in rubber and palm-oil plantations.

Rapid industrialization since the 1980s triggered a new rush of foreign labor to help sustain growth and infrastructure development. The construction of the multibillion-dollar, 88-story Petronas Towers—once the world’s tallest building—the new administrative capital of Putrajaya, and Kuala Lumpur’s international airport were partly made possible by laborers from Indonesia and Bangladesh.

Still, hosting a huge foreign workforce strains public services such as security, health, transportation and education. Malaysia has been tightening employment rules for unskilled foreign workers. Migrant workers totaled nearly 1.6 million in 2011, down 23% from 2 million in 2007, Ministry of Human Resources data shows.

“The economy is softening, growth is moderating, and this makes it an ideal time to shed the excess illegal foreign workers,” said Shankaran Nambiar, a senior research fellow at the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research.

The economy has grown 4.2% in the first six months compared with a year earlier. Weak global demand for palm oil and electrical and electronics products—U.S. computer-maker Dell Inc. DELL +0.04% uses Malaysia as a production base—has dragged down overseas merchandise shipments. The central bank has reduced full-year growth forecast to 4.5%-5% from 5%-6%.

Good for Malaysia

Originally Posted by pkskyali

“The economy is softening, growth is moderating, and this makes it an ideal time to shed the excess illegal foreign workers,” said Shankaran Nambiar, a senior research fellow at the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research.

We should send Nancy Pelosi over there, to educate the Malaysians about the advantages of using foreigners to undercut their own people.
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Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade