MY friend, a Sikh, was at the passport office in Jalan Duta in Kuala Lumpur when he was approached by an immigration “runner” offering his services.
The runner turned out to be a Bangladeshi, not a Malaysian, and he had thought my friend was from the sub-continent.
With millions of foreign workers, legal or otherwise, already in Malaysia or making their way to Malaysia, it is not surprising that the business of importing and handling foreign workers is hugely lucrative.
And the ones profiting from the business are the agents, sub-agents and runners. Only a small portion of the revenue, in terms of levies, actually goes to the government coffers.
“Malaysia’s policies toward migrant labour are as fickle and confused as ever,” wrote Dr Lee Hwok Aun, who lectures in development studies at the University of Malaya.
“The concern is whether migrant labour policy is being driven by the profit-maximising interests of those who pocket lucrative gains from service fees, visa processing and medical check-up charges and other migrant entry procedures rather than labour market needs,” he said.
He concluded: “Flip-flopping and caprice now disconcertingly reign over this major policy area. Let’s hope for a more coherent, consistent and integrated approach, involving engagement by government, companies and labour, to resolve Malaysia’s complex workforce issues.”
The World Bank, in its annual report titled “Malaysia Economic Monitor: Immigrant Labour” released in December last year, agreed that the problem with Malaysia was its policy on foreign workers was fragmented and not aligned to its overall human resource strategy.
It said there are more than 10 different ministries, and departments within these ministries, directly engaged in the approval of immigrant labour.
“Fragmentation limits coordination between institutions, resulting in frequent duplication of functions and difficulty in controlling non-compliance with immigration and labour law,” it noted.
Where do we go from here? The 2017 Budget to be unveiled by Najib this Friday may not provide all the answers to the array of foreign labour issues.
Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has said the Human Resources Ministry and the Economic Planning Unit had been studying the actual demand for foreign workers in the country.
We need a lasting solution to ensure the immigration system can better meet the country’s development objectives and is in line with our human resource development strategy.
A veteran newsman, A. Jalil Hamid believes that a good journalist should be curious and sceptical at the same time