IT was quiet at the mamak restaurant, as was the once lively street it was on. There were five on duty; three in the kitchen and two at the semi-shuttered door — an entry that never closed when it was a 24-hour joint.
I had gone there to buy some food and teh tarik — Oh, how we missed the teh tarik — and the waiter said normally there would be 16 to 19 staff working at any one time.
The rest of his colleagues were at a flat accorded by the employer.
There were also a few other flats housing staff from other nearby restaurants.
The deal was the same, no pay unless they work, but food and shelter were provided.
They were all foreigners — Indians, Bangladeshis, Indonesians, Myanmars, Vietnamese, Pakistanis, Nepalese, etc. They came to Malaysia to support families back home.
The waiter was concerned how much longer the movement restrictions would be in place, and more important, if his employer could sustain them, if at all.
I took his concern a step further — What do we do with our foreign workers, many of whom are likely to be unemployed as businesses close down or downsize?
THE WORK WE REFUSE
When we say foreign workers, we are referring to the ones doing those dirty, dangerous, difficult, and one might add, dreary, jobs that Malaysians do not want to do at the price the former are paid.
Foreign labour in the last few decades help build this country of ours.
No infrastructure, building or development that were not touched by them.
Now, they have even evolved to keep the country going.
Restaurants or retail outlets are likely that to be powered by foreign workers.
Every new investment for new shops in our countless sprouting malls have a foreign labour elements hard-wired into them.
They are no longer cleaners, security guards, maids or general workers.
They now run the stores, manage the kitchen and work the tills for absentee owners, just like the aforementioned mamak restaurant.
There are plenty of them and they keep costs of operation, services and products, lower.
For instance, it was suggested that, foreign workers can bring down the cost of building a house by as much as 20 per cent; that the difference between paying a Malaysian and a foreigner may actually mean a choice between profit and loss.
No wonder we have an addiction to them, but soon we may have to quit them cold turkey.
Covid-19, and its consequences will have a significant impact on how businesses — from mom and pop operations to large corporations — will survive, and if they did, how will they be drastically changed.
A NATION'S GROUNDWORK
Foreign workers, by some estimate, represent a third of the country's 15 million plus workforce.
According to unofficial estimates there might be up to six million of them, both legal and illegal.
In all areas of the private sector, except perhaps in finance, they dominate.
Not many businesses in construction, manufacturing, agriculture and hospitality can survive without foreign sweat.
They are diligent, hardworking, some are educated, and most important, relatively cheap.
Yet, the expected slowing down of domestic and global economies will see many losing their jobs, some of whom may be forced to leave for more uncertain economic climes back home.
Not only jobs will be lost by business closing down or downsizing, people are likely to be spending less for fear of the unknown.
They are less likely to travel, eat out, go to crowded places such as to the movies, concerts or clubs. These all have economic impacts that will manifest in job losses, too.
Some economists have also predicted huge job losses among Malaysians, too, and recovery will be long.
Normalcy, by whatever definition, will be longer still.
This, however, will be a global phenomenon.
Once this is all over, we are not going to pick up from where we were pre-Covid 19.
RIGHT TIME FOR A CHANGE
However, even in the gloomiest cloud, we should search for silver linings.
Perhaps it is the right time to look at resolving two issues — the perennial problem of our dependency on foreign labour and the new problem of rising unemployment among Malaysians.
High unemployment can lead to social, political and security issues.
We should look at developing a conscious strategy, rather than an accidental one.
We will have to design a policy, which has significant heft, to compel businesses to employ locals whenever they can.
There is the need to accept that we will have to pay more for products and services when we employ Malaysians.
This will be the new normal.
We may not be able to open as much businesses to fill our malls and skyscrapers, and that will be the new normal too.
We have ridden on the backs of foreign workers for so long, and now I believe it is time to wean ourselves off them, at least to a lower number.
Yet, we must do so in a humane compassionate manner for they have made our lives so much better all these years.
The writer, a former NSTP group managing editor, is now a social media observer
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times