Indonesian out, Pakistani in …
Thursday, February 17th, 2005 | 1:01 pm @ SK
It sounds like love affairs, never ending one.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Admad Badawi announced at Pakistan that Malaysia is going to bring in Pakistani workers to meet the country’s manpower needs.
Only a few days ago, it happened that Feb 28 had been set as D-Day for the remaining illegal immigrants in Malaysia.
And now, this dramatical move to acquire workers from Pakistan, for me, it’s a bit shocking indeed.
What’s the point of throwing out some and bring in some, or maybe more?
Ok, let us accept the fact that Malaysia need foreign workers to help stir our economy growth. Reason why? It’s very simple. Unemployed Malaysian either thinks that those jobs are lowly paid or not on-par with their intellectual level. Or it may be lots of other reasons or excuses, only they know. Either way, it’s embarassing.
Employers must also share part of the blame and responsibility as well, as most of them prefer cheap illegal immigrants. Worse, some of them don’t even pay wages to the workers, instigate the Indonesia Government to appoint Malaysia lawyers to take legal action. That, cause another unwanted concern and unnecessary issue.
After all, it’s not about the origin of the immigrants that matters, they too are human like us seeking for livings. But illegal is illegal, rules and laws need to be respected, isn’t it? What matter now is how stringent and sincere is Malaysia authorities in executing the law, punish and deport those who are illegal. Consolidation of effective law implementation, stern action with fast ruling are essential in walking the talk.
We all hope for a better Malaysia to live in, aren’t we?
February 17th, 2005 at 5:11 pm
Actually, I wouldn’t mind having immigrants in our local community at all, it’s just that the things they do freak people out sometimes. Gangfights, rape cases, robbery, snatch-theft, illegal housings, hygiene issues etc.
When I was still in Cyberjaya, it actually scares me to see quite a number (70 - 100 of them!) walking towards different construction sites almost a few times a week in the evening. I later found out that they are merely moving around different “hideouts” on a periodic basis to prevent authorities from taking them down. Imagine what would happen if these 100++ people terrorize say, the defenceless (indeed it is damn defenceless) MMU nearby?
OK, no discrimination here, why would all these happen in the first place? Think about it, Malaysia is the “American Dream” equivalent for most of them who are less lucky in their countries. They came here with hopes to lead a better life. They are humans. They need to live. They too deserve the basic needs of life: food, lodging and other resources. Notice that these workers usually strike the same impression: poor and shabby. Their wages are lower, that we understand but why do we hear news about them committing crime most of the time?
Imagine this, you are promised decent living in this country but all you get is to cramp with 6 - 8 people in a simple master bedroom of a crowded apartment. You need to walk at least 10km to your workplace. You work under the harshest conditions ever, with no safety gear or any sort (I hope someone can produce the number of cases where dead bodies are found within walls of newly built buildings, but then it would be impossible, it will be all urban legend). You are taken advantage of your employer, and you have no where else to go. Or maybe, you are cheated into the country through forged documents (education and awareness level, get me?) and you are now on the run from the authorities, You want to live. Human instinct. You know what happens next.
Not all employers are as screwed up, there are actually very decent ones. Let’s leave this aside, if employers are not the issues to these crimes, why the hell are they so rampant? I have a question: do you know what is a “Green card” in the states? Do you know the standards to obtain one of them aside from residency period? Behavior and track records. People are dying to get them in the states. Lets admit that there are also foreign worker issues in the states, but I can assure you that it is not as rampant as it seem under the screwed up management of certain departments in this country. I was hoping that someone could share with us what are the ratio of a rejected immigrant worker application against a successful one in Malaysia? why are the permits so easily obtained? (Think officers as donkeys that chases a carrot hanging in front of them). A teacher once joked that they “row row row ya boat” in to this country. Yo, it’s true, we know that certain parts in the west coast, it takes only 1 hour plus to reach the island of Sumatra (Bless you) via speedboats, so what happened to the marines? Do they just cruise around with the speedboats we funded them?
Last but not least, we civilians too. Why do we have to look at all of them with a biased eye? Wouldn’t that solve more problems from the root first?
February 18th, 2005 at 4:33 pm
Malaysia needs immigrant workers, it does not matter where they are from - it should be OK as long as they are legal.