KUALA LUMPUR: A local think-tank has urged the government to put a moratorium on detaining undocumented migrants until the Covid-19 pandemic is under control.
Iman Research, in a statement today said, the Home Affairs Ministry's decision to round up illegal migrants is not guided by science and compassion and will endanger the country and delay the country's exit from the pandemic.
"Migrant workers as a community leverage each other for strength and survival.
"Threatening to detain undocumented migrant workers and at the same time rounding up documented migrant workers for vaccination will only instil fear and distrust in the whole migrant community towards authorities, therefore hampering any vaccination roll-out programmes," it said.
Iman Research urged the government to vaccinate all migrant workers regardless of their status to ensure herd immunity is achieved.
"To safely achieve herd immunity against Covid-19, a substantial portion of the population needs to be vaccinated, which includes migrant workers.
"Migrant workers, be it documented or undocumented, are the backbone of our economy and they are critical for our post-Covid-19 recovery.
"They are integrated in our communities; they access the same public services, and work side by side with Malaysians," it said.
Iman Research said, the number of documented or regular foreign workers in Malaysia stood at 2.27 million in 2017 while irregular migrants (including undocumented ones) as well as over-stayers numbered about 1.2 million.
"Unofficial numbers are even higher, suggesting that the number is as high as four million — significantly outnumbering regular migrants.
"This clearly implies that nearly half if not more of our working population consists of migrants who are both documented and undocumented.
"Therefore, the government should work with civil society organisations (CSOs) and employers to ensure vaccination of migrant workers instead of rounding them up.
"It is in the interest of the economy and employers for their workers to be vaccinated. This will also help in alleviating fear and distrust," it added.
On May 29, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin announced that the government would conduct operations to detain undocumented migrants during the ongoing total lockdown.
On June 4, he said the government nabbed the migrants to provide them with Covid-19 inoculation as they would refuse to take the jabs voluntarily.
Hamzah, however, said undocumented migrants will not be given the vaccines since the authorities cannot ascertain their identity.