Governments plan to employ undocumented migrants is applaudable and good for everyone

There is a reason why migrants from our neighbouring countries come over 'illegally' - one reason is that sometimes the payment required by agents, etc for persons to come over as documented migrant workers is just too high for the poorer migrants to afford....and hence they travel to Malaysia to try to find work and money for themselves and their dependents.

Sometimes, in countries like Burma, which is ruled by a dictatorial military regime that has deprived the duly elected government to rule, people have no real choice. Many of these persons fear persecution if they try to leave the country legally...or try to leave as documented workers. Why? Some are members of Aung San Su Kyi's and other political parties. Others are from ethnic groups that are still waging a war against the ruling military junta. Even when they get arrested...there are problems with the Burmese embassy...who wants money,etc before they be deported...or just is not interested in bringing them home to Burma. Malaysia did understand this, and was 'sympathetic' to the Burmese migrants - and they were the only group that was previously not sent back to Burma - but taken to the Malaysia-Thai border and espelled from Malaysia. These undocumented migrants were never handed back to the hands of the Burmese regime. But, then there was allegations of 'human trafficking' thrown at the Malaysian Immigration authorities - and now, Malaysia seem to have stopped this practice - and the end result is that the numbers of Burmese in our Immigration Detention Centres have been growing and growing.

Most importantly, they come out of desperation seeking for money needed for them and their dependents to survive. Nobody really wants to abandon family and community  and come to a strange land, with countless risks including arrests, whipping, deportation...unless one is really desparate. In the past, before the modern nation states..people migrated freely from place to place - and it is evident in Malaysia and other ASEAN countries....and also from the recent World Cup [Just look at the origins of the forefathers of the many of the players]. A caring Malaysia would not shut its doors on the faces of those that are in need. Remember also that the majority of these migrants are not interested in settling here permanently - they just want to work, earn...and go back home.

Cost of arresting, detaining and deporting is a big burden to Malaysia - and it makes good sense to rather allow these undocumented migrants to work in Malaysia. Maybe, we should not be so bothered as to how they get into the country - but that employers do the needful and register all their workers, local or foreign. Once registered, these workers shall be considered documented and legal. It is far better for us to have a documented workforce - which employers in Malaysia is all too willing to employ and there seem to be no complaints about their performances. 

Malaysia has about 5 million undocumented migrants, according to my estimate, and it is better that they be allowed to work in Malaysia - for this will certainly be more economically viable rather than wasting so much resources and money in trying to find them, arrest them, detain them...and deport them. Of course, there could be a requirement placed on local employers that they should first try to get local workers, and if they cannot find them, they can hire migrant workers. Is that not the principle, nowadays when one applies for migrant workers? So, why not make it also the principle when hiring these undocumented migrants.

It would also be better from the employers standpoint - as they have a choice of workers that they employ, compared on just relying on the workers supplied by agents. 

In fact, let us standardize the modue operandi of how employers get workers. When it comes to local workers, the employer upon hiring the worker informs the relevant authoirities - SOCSO, EPF and also the Income Tax authorities. Likewise, why not it be the same with foreign workers. After all, formalising employment is so much better than an informal-labour relationship. It benefits not just the worker, but also the government who can also collect the requisite taxes, contribution for social security, and maybe even some sort of levy. For the worker, it will also ensure that all rights provided in Malaysia to workers is also within his grasp - and employers will not be able to escape their obligations in law to workers.

CYBERJAYA: The government will consider the possibility of employing illegal immigrants as foreign workers to meet the high demand from employers.

Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr. S. Subramaniam said these were among 51 suggestions discussed by a special laboratory set up by the ministry to deal with the issue of foreign workers.

He said the ministry also discussed ways to address problems on abuse of foreign workers, especially domestic maids.

“The ministry is faced with two major problems in dealing with illegal immigrants in the country, namely the existence of illegal workers and the high demand for workers by employers.

“Because of the high demand, illegal immigrants continue to enter the country. We are looking for a suitable mechanism to deal with this effectively,” he told a media conference at the launch of Lim Kok Wing University of Creative Technology’s Academy of Creativity and Innovation here Friday.

Subramaniam said the number of illegal workers in the country was still high and attributed this to the high demand from employers.

In a related development, Subramaniam said the payment structure imposed by maid agencies in Indonesia and Malaysia still varies and this posed problems for the people in the country to get maids from Indonesia.

Until the payment structure is resolved, there will be problems getting maids from Indonesia, he added.

On efforts made to obtain maids from other countries, he said Cambodia had been identified as a new source, besides South Thailand, the Philippines and Myanmar. -- Bernama - Star, 16/7/2010, Govt plans to employ illegal immigrants