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Advantage, ugly Malaysians PDF Print E-mail
Friday, 11 July 2008 12:44pm

©The Malay Mail (Used by permission)
by Zalinah Noordin

SUNGAI Buloh New Village exists as the ‘Village above the law’ — so dubbed due to the many illegals among the estimated 50,000 foreigners found there — only because Malaysians encourage the situation, exploit it and profit from it.

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other bodies in the country have pointed the finger at “greedy, nasty and ugly” Malaysians for contributing to the growing numbers of illegal foreign workers in the country.

Their accusations followed a Malay Mail expose last Tuesday on the thousands of foreign workers - many of whom no longer have valid work permits or visas - who have made the Sungai Buloh New Village their workplace and home. Many small businesses and also operate many of the stalls at the township’s pasar malam, catering to the requirements of the large numbers of Nepalese, Myanmar, Vietnamese and Bangladeshis who seemingly have the run of the place.

Some of the women are also known to be involved in prostitution.

Bar Council president Datuk Ambiga Sreenivasan said the fault for this lies with Malaysians in employing foreign workers, “Yes, it’s indeed the fault of certain parties that this has happened. There are some unscrupulous employers who hire foreign workers illegally, overlooking matters such as proper documentation.

“As a result, when their term ends, the foreign workers are left to fend for themselves, not knowing the proper channel to turn to and, as a result, they end up overstaying.” Foreign Maids Agency Association (PAPA) president Datuk Raja Zulkepley Dahalan said that while the country had an issue to address, Malaysians were themselves to be blamed for this.

“The people should realise the importance of following the proper procedures when hiring foreign workers if they don’t want problems in the long run,” he said. According to him, Malaysians are these days very selective of the type of work they do, resulting in the need to hire foreigners, at lower wages, to do the kind of jobs the local people do not want. Local companies too resort to employing foreign workers as they are cheaper to hire, and easier to fire.

Furthermore, there were “far fewer social obligations and commitments” for employers using foreign workers.

Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) president Syed Shahril Syed Mohamed held a similar view.

”The problem of illegal immigrant workers has been around for quite some years now, so how come we are taking such a long time to come up with any solution?” Syed Shahril said there were also many rackets going on, resulting in foreign workers getting the short end of the stick.

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