Hard Labor

By VIOLET CHO / JAHO, MALAYSIA     MAY, 2008 - VOLUME 16 NO.5

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=11641

Many Burmese invest hope and money to get work permits for Malaysia, only to find themselves exploited


“I regret coming to Malaysia,” murmured Ko Shwe. “I feel afraid here. The only thing I want now is to go home.”

A farmer from Sittwe in western Burma, Ko Shwe left his home last year after the protests against rising fuel prices sparked a national uprising. Faced with economic misery in Burma, Ko Shwe joined the thousands of Burmese—especially those from rural areas—migrating to foreign countries to earn a living. Just seven days after starting work at a factory in Kuala Lumpur, he lost his right hand while working with an electric lathe.


Construction workers at a site in Kuala Lumpur. Typically, migrant workers face exploitation by employers and deportation by authorities.

Hiding his injury self-consciously, Ko Shwe spoke about his plan to return to Burma after he receives some compensation from his employer. However, as his work permit has not yet been approved, he is not confident of getting anything—not even reimbursement for his hospital bill.

The ongoing economic decline in Burma has led to an outflow of laborers to neighboring countries. While Thailand has the most open market for illegal foreign labor, countries such as Malaysia provide an opportunity for workers with passports who can apply for legal employment.

However, Burmese migrant workers must invest a large amount of money—usually more than US $1,000—organizing jobs in Malaysia and paying for flights or other transportation to get there. Malaysia’s booming economy draws many foreign workers, but the reality often involves exploitation and broken dreams.

According to Latheefa Koya, a Malaysian lawyer who represents migrant workers in Malaysia, foreigners who wish to work in the country must first apply for what is known as a “calling visa.” This will allow them to work temporarily—often indefinitely—until they receive a work permit. In the meantime, their employer is obliged to pay for their health insurance, she said.

According to Malaysia’s Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1952, it is the responsibility of the employer to ensure all legal foreign workers are insured against sickness and injury. However, many Malaysian employers systematically ignore the law.

Koya said that when it comes to migrant workers, breaking the law has become “something of a habit” for employers in Malaysia.

The Workmen’s Compensation Act states that an employer must report an accident at work to the Department of Labour within 10 days of the incident. Failure to do so can incur a fine.

Other Burmese migrant workers in Malaysia find themselves bonded to an employer and working in poor conditions after paying large sums of money to arrange calling visas.

Formerly a farmer in Irrawaddy Division, Htun Htun and his friends each paid around 1.6 million kyat ($1,435) to an agency that arranges calling visas and finds work in Malaysia for Burmese. Htun Htun, 28, now works at a furniture factory in Muar, some 150 kilometers southeast of Kuala Lumpur in Johor State.

“I want to find a new job with a better salary, but I cannot as I signed a contract for three years to work in this factory,” said Htun Htun. “The wage that I receive here is very low, and I am worried that I will not be able to pay off my debt, which I borrowed from friends to come to Malaysia.”

Htun Htun stays in an overcrowded factory dormitory with 500 other Burmese, Bangladeshi and Vietnamese migrant workers. Conditions are unsanitary and uncomfortable with little access to drinking water. Their only free time is on Sundays. They do not receive paid leave, even if they are sick. The nearest hospital is relatively expensive and more than one hour’s bus ride from the factory, so it is difficult for foreign workers to obtain treatment.

Ye Min Htun, a leading member of the Kuala Lumpur-based Burma Workers’ Rights Protection Committee, said workers who come to Malaysia with calling visas are totally under the control of their employers, who frequently keep the employees’ passports to prevent them from changing jobs. Many Burmese workers face such exploitative conditions in their first Malaysian jobs that they choose to become illegal and find new work.

He said Burmese migrant workers in Malaysia are often cheated by the agencies that find work for them. When in Burma it is common for prospective migrant workers to be briefed about high salaries and easy jobs; however, after arrival in Malaysia, the reality is often completely different.

According to the International Federation of Human Rights’ March 2008 report titled “Undocumented Migrants and Refugees in Malaysia,” the Malaysian economy relies heavily on foreign workers to do what it calls the “3D jobs”—dirty, dangerous and difficult. It says the status of migrants in Malaysia is not properly managed nor planned and the government does not protect migrants from unscrupulous recruitment agencies and employers.

Burmese migrants and workers in Muar have countless stories of abuse by employers. Three months ago, Htun Htun’s friend was beaten by hired thugs from the factory for not turning up for work when he was sick.

In the Muar factory, manual workers put in long hours and are paid a minimum wage of 18 Malaysian ringgit ($5.70) per day. If a worker is off sick, the factory owner deducts 10 ringgit ($3.17) from his or her salary for each day’s leave. In addition, if the employer is dissatisfied with the quality of workmanship, money is deducted from the workers’ salaries.

“We cannot save money to send back home to our family,” said a worker from Magwe in central Burma. “We feel as if we are just working for our daily survival here.”

It’s a complaint shared by many of his compatriots in Malaysia.

Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org

INTERNATIONAL FACT FINDING MISSION

FOR NCR LAND RIGHTS

The continued arrest of indigenous community leaders by the police, acting in collusion with plantation companies in Sarawak must stop immediately. The recent arrests of five community leaders in the Kg. Wawasan area with trumped up charges organized by the company with the support of the police reflects the high handedness in which plantation companies violate the native customary rights to land by the indigenous communities.

The International fact finding team consisting of Justice Pana Chand Jain of Centre for Community Economics and Development Consultants Society (CECOEDECON) from India, Ravadee Prasertcharoensuk of Sustainable Development Foundation (SDF) from Thailand and Debra Erenberg of Rainforest Action Network (RAN) from the United States visited over 19 communities consisting of 70 villages and long houses and met with about 825 people from the north to central and south of Sarawak and found that there was continued and systemic organized aggression on indigenous peoples land and rights.

The IFFM team established through interviews with the people, through documented evidence provided by the people and through evidence found in the form of graves, fruit trees and cultivated land that the land areas claimed by the people are native customary rights to land (NCR). There is a pre-existing right.

The team is of the opinion that since the lands are native customary lands through continuous customary practices of cultivation for generations, the land cannot be taken away from the indigenous peoples by the state government nor be leased out to private companies for plantations. This strategy and action constitutes gross violation of indigenous peoples' rights to NCR land.

The Sarawak Land Code [CAP81] clearly recognizes the NCR lands and has defined the elements that give recognition to native customary rights to land. Further to this the Federal Court decision of Madeli Salleh vs government of Sarawak states very clearly that the customary rights of inhabitants were recognized and accepted by the British crown when it governed Sarawak. It became part of common law. These customary rights therefore are part of common law and thus must be recognized and protected.

Land is life and guarantees the peoples livelihood. The Federal constitution ensures the right to life and livelihood. Thus when the land of the indigenous people are taken away, then their livelihood is gone. As a consequence, it violates the constitutional rights of the indigenous peoples.

Therefore, the IFFM team reiterates that the indigenous peoples struggle to their land is legitimate. It is the responsibility of the state and federal governments to recognize the NCR to land and livelihood. The state can no longer lease indigenous peoples land to lease out for plantations or contract farming to companies.

The current intensive and extensive violations of the NCR land is bringing about devastating impact on the lives of the indigenous peoples. The development of oil palm plantations at a rate of 7% covering more than 40% of land in Sarawak has tremendously reduced food production; destroyed the rivers where communities depended on the fish; the pollution of the rivers, particularly with highly hazardous pesticides and the environment has affected the health of communities with increase in diseases.

The insatiable expansion of this monocrop has destroyed the forests with the resultant loss of biodiversity that has even further affected the dependence of the indigenous communities for their livelihood. With the imminent global crisis on food, the indigenous communities will further face impoverishment and poverty.

The use of palm oil for agrofuel is a threat to food production and is one of the contributing factors of the current global food crisis. The increase demand for agrofuel has led to intensive expansion which has brought about deforestation, consequently impacting on climate change. It is crucial that Sarawak protects the rainforest as the last few rainforests left in the world.

We are very concerned that the increased violence and harassment on the indigenous communities especially on the leaders by the companies involved in expanding the plantations. Such form of violence can only intensify the conflict without a due process and a people centered conflict resolution. It therefore demands people's participation through a democratic process for peaceful resolution.

Signatories:

Nicholas Mujah
Secretary General, Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (SADIA)

Irene Fernandez
Director, Tenaganita

Sarojeni Rengam
Executive Director, Pesticide Action Network Asia & the Pacific (PAN AP)
Co-director, People's Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS)

Remittances from migrant workers increased by 15 percent to Rs 2.5 billion

by Lakshmi de Silva

http://www.island.lk/2008/04/21/business5.html

Remittances from the migrant workers recorded a 2,502 million US Dollars during 2007, an increase of 15 percent from the previous year.

The Middle Eastern region continued to provide 90 percent of the total foreign employment for Sri Lankans the Annual Central Bank report 2007 states.

However unskilled workers continued to account for a significant share of foreign employment dominated by housemaids the report also stated.

Overseas job opportunities for the Sri Lankan labour force continued to be a vital source of employment and there were 217,306 departures compared with 201,948 from the previous years which was a growth of 7.6 percent during the year.

The dominance of housemaids has been declining over the years and it was 49 percent of the total foreign employment in 2005 declining to 47 percent in 2007 the report said.

An apprenticeship training programme in the construction sector leading to an internationally accepted certification and similar training in hospitality trade were undertaken with a view to cater to these sectors in the global market.

Consequently, the migrant workforce in the categories of skilled and unskilled labour, other than the housemaids, increased from 42 percent in 2006 to 47 percent in 2007 the Central Bank report stated.

Migrant workers deceived, stranded in Bandung

Yuli Tri Suwarni ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Bandung   |  Sat, 04/19/2008 12:26 PM

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/04/19/migrant-workers-deceived-stranded-bandung.html

Hundreds of migrant workers who paid a total of Rp 5 billion (US$541,000) to secure jobs and transportation to South Korea are now stranded in Bandung, West Java, and seeking justice.

The 320 workers, who come from villages in Central and West Java, have filed complaints with the relevant local authorities, with the assistance of the Bandung Legal Aid Institute (LBH Bandung).

The workers said justice had been miscarried as their money had not been returned to them, while those who attempted "to smuggle" them overseas were charged only with criminal deceit.

"We are disappointed with the way the police are handling the case and with the local manpower and transmigration office for giving no response to the workers. They have been stranded for months in the city without any certainty over their fate," Purwanto, representing the workers, said here recently.

Purwanto, a 27-year-old resident of Losari, Brebes, Central Java, said he paid Rp 20 million to the Bannua Foundation, which recruited the workers to work in South Korea for a starting salary, it claimed, of Rp 8 million per month.

"I was interested because ... I had worked in Saudi Arabia for four years for a monthly wage of only Rp 2.8 million. I accepted the foundation's offer because it pledged I would be paid more," he said, adding he paid Rp 10 million to a sponsor to facilitate his departure to the Middle East in 2003.

Purwanto said the deceit was uncovered when he and other workers underwent a Korean proficiency test at the University of Indonesia in Depok.

The test organizers found that our test numbers had been falsified, he said.

"I went back to Bandung but was unable to meet with the foundation's management. After a week-long check, I discovered the foundation was not a recruitment agency, but rather had a permit from the local manpower and transmigration office to run a Korean language short-course."

Mujianto and three other workers from Cilacap said they paid Rp 15 million each to the foundation, which pledged they would be employed in Korea for a monthly wage of Rp 8 million.

"In the past we worked on construction projects with a daily wage of Rp 30,000. We were interested in working in Korea because of the high salary offered. That is why we sold our assets in Cilacap to pay the foundation. If our departure is suspended, we want our money back," he said.

He said his older brother Muji was employed at a forklift factory in Korea for a monthly salary of Rp 16 million.

Canggih Pribadi from the legal institute's labor division criticized the police for charging foundation chairman Salifi Rachman and his assistant Ade Komaruddin with deception instead of smuggling.

"The police should have used Law No. 39/2004 on the placement and protection of migrant workers to uphold justice in this case. The law has a maximum life sentence and a fine of Rp 5 billion, and should have been used to force the smugglers to return the workers' money," he said.

Parsaoran Sirait from the legal aid foundation blamed the manpower and transmigration office for not distributing information on procedures for working overseas.

"Manpower and transmigration authorities have distributed information on the required legal procedures to brokers and labor exporters only. The police are uninformed about the labor laws," he said.

He called on either the police or manpower authorities to force the foundation to return the money collected and to impose harsh sanctions against the foundation.

Thursday April 17, 2008

Flaw in foreign worker supply

PUTRAJAYA: There has been a weakness in the regulating of demand and supply factors concerning foreign workers, admitted Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam.

He said some agencies had brought in more foreign workers than required and had to find work for the extra workers who flooded some sectors.

He said if the Government had been successful in tightening this, it would have won one battle towards reducing the number of foreign workers in the country.

Dr Subramaniam told reporters after the post-Cabinet meeting here yesterday that he would be meeting employers in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors to advise them to regulate and to hire locals.

It was reported earlier that there were two million registered foreign workers in the country and an estimated one million illegal ones.

On his meeting with Cuepacs yesterday, Dr Subramaniam said he had heard their grievances and suggestions and would bring them up in the Cabinet.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/16/nation/20961403&sec=nation

Govt wants zero dependence on non-Malaysian workers

PUTRAJAYA: The Government wants to do away with foreign workers as their numbers – both legal and illegal – have reached three million.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said he would seek the cooperation of the Human Resources Ministry to find ways to reduce the demand for foreign workers.

Speaking to reporters after visiting the Immigration Department here yesterday, he said the move would also ensure that there would be no unemployment among Malaysians.

He said cooperation from employers was most important as they created the demand for foreign workers and this had also caused illegal foreigners to enter the country in droves.

“We want to see the demand for foreigners totally scrapped, that is our aim. We need cooperation from those who are seeking workers.

“We need a collective and planned effort from all quarters including the Human Resources Ministry to ensure that we depend only on our own citizens,” he said, adding that illegal foreign workers were one of the biggest problems the ministry was facing.

When asked for more attractive perks and benefits for locals to take up jobs that were now dominated by foreigners, he said for an unemployed Malaysian any job would be attractive.

In PETALING JAYA, the Malaysian Employers Federation and Malaysian Trades Union Congress said that the Government must have a clear policy on migrant workers and not act on an ad hoc basis.

MEF executive director Shamsuddin Bardan said he was not against the move to scrap dependence on foreign workers but it must be planned properly.

“We don't want to have a knee-jerk reaction and be caught off-guard. This could affect productivity,” he said.

“The cause of the high influx of illegals should not be confused with employers' demand for documented workers. It's partly because the Government has been too lenient,” he said.

MTUC president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud said the organisation was not against hiring migrant workers but also said the Government must have a clear policy on why they were brought in.

Friday, 11 April 2008

Aliran would like to bring to public attention the continuing violence perpetrated against migrants and refugees in this country. It is amazing that the public at large is still ignorant of all this human rights violation happening right under our noses. Moreover, most of the Malaysian public remain ignorant of who refugees are or why they are here.

The cause of this ignorance is probably brought about by limited information and the negative views promoted by the mainstream news dailies and broadcast media, which is still under the complete control of the ruling Barisan Nasional government.

In our view, negative publicity that incites violence against any group of human beings by any party is unjust and by its nature, criminal, especially when the victims of such violence are defenceless and have not harmed anyone.

What have the on-going violent crackdowns by Rela gained for Malaysian society? It has obviously done nothing for Malaysia except to give us a bad image internationally as a cruel and heartless nation.

Have refugees from other countries undergoing internal political upheaval or conflict stopped coming here or has there been a reduction in numbers? No. It is in fact difficult to keep accurate count of these numbers. Even the UN refugee agency in Malaysia cannot be completely certain that statistics do not change everyday.

Refugee communities have repeatedly sent out press releases to non-governmental organisations to appeal for a stop to the arrest and detention of their community members, including pregnant women, mothers with babies, small children and minors. They have often described the cruel and inhuman treatment they experience at the hands of Rela and the abuse perpetrated in immigration detention centres. This abuse ranges from being beaten up, sexually abused, raped and financially extorted, to the whipping of minors.

Such acts, if committed by any other Malaysian citizen, would be seen as criminal. Yet when they are committed by those in authority - through the so-called 'security forces' like Rela - against helpless migrants and refugees, they very often go unnoticed and unpunished. The current Home Affairs Minister, Syed Hamid Albar, has not publicly taken a stand on this issue. Instead, the raids on these defenceless refugee communities have been stepped up, affecting even those officially recognised by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and who have UNHCR documents to prove their status.

The issue of refugees is not a new one. It has in fact been an issue for over 30 years since the Vietnam War in the 1970s. Since then, other countries in the region have been gripped by turmoil and hardship, but few Malaysians are aware of the long-standing suffering in these countries. Do we think this does not affect us?

The excuse by the Government that treating refugees humanely is a 'pull-factor' for more to arrive on our shores is a fallacy. Neither ill-treatment nor deportation has served to stop the influx of migrants, whether documented or undocumented. The fundamental problem is the lack of a proper corruption- free immigration control system and clear- cut policies for different categories of migrants. The non-recognition of refugees and the lack of empathy for their plight have tarnished our image. The use of Rela only puts migrants and refugees as well as sections of the Malaysian public in fear because of the indiscriminate raids often carried out in the middle of the night.

Rela seems to be acting with impunity and getting away with acts of violence against migrants and refugees. This makes Malaysian society appear inhuman as it appears to overlook such gratuitous violence.

The recent denial of a two-thirds majority for the BN and the victories of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat in five states have shown us that we can bring about changes for the betterment of the country, if we want to.

Similarly, the /rakyat/ can put pressure for the new Parliament to address the issue of migrants and refugees more seriously and to come up with more comprehensive and humane immigration policies, which would include the recognition of refugees by immigration authorities in this country.

Aliran also urges the /rakyat/ to support calls for the federal government to ratify the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and other international human rights conventions. The public is also reminded that Malaysia is an elected member of the UN Human Rights Council and should live up to this role in the international community, instead of embarrassing us by being a notorious perpetrator of human rights violations.

Aliran again reiterates its support for calls by other civil society groups, including the Bar Council and Suara Rakyat Malaysia, for the abolition of Rela.

Aliran Executive Committee.

11 April 2008