MALAYSIA - MIGRATION IN 2000

Malaysia experienced a steady economic growth in the year 2000. GDP growth increased to 8.5 percent, compared to 5.8 in 1999. Unemployment remained low at around 3 percent and inflation was under control at about 2 percent. Experts credited Malaysia’s recovery to the structural policies implemented, which contained the real wage loss to one percent, and less credit to the capital control and fixed exchange rate instituted. However, forecasts for the following year tend to predict a slowdown in economic growth, due to international factors as well as the decline in portfolio investments.

Throughout the year Malaysia tried several times to rationalize its migration policy and gain more control of the admission of migrant labor. To lower dependency on foreign labor, the Deputy Prime Minister urged manufacturers to shift away from labor intensive industries and imposed a ban on hiring migrant workers in 138 categories, which were to be reserved to Malaysian workers. Paramedics, mechanical engineers, musicians, petrol station attendants, drivers, waiters and waitresses and all types of sales personnel are among these categories. The maximum length of stay for foreign workers was limited to seven years. As of February 2000, authorized migrant workers were estimated to be 697,219, mostly from Indonesia (517,766), Bangladesh (129,004), the Philippines (30,510), Pakistan (3,280), Thailand (2,888) and others (18,774). The Malaysian Employers Federation urged the government to reconsider its decision, considering that Malaysia was experiencing full employment, and to give sectors like hotels, tourism, restaurants, retail and trade and services sufficient time to switch to the local labor force. In April the suspension in the hiring foreign workers was extended to all categories, to allow time to process backlog requests. In September, the ban was lifted for migrants coming from Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia. In the first quarter of the year job vacancies had increased by 35 percent. At the same time the Malaysian Trade Union Congress urged the government to come up with a comprehensive immigration policy, regulating the hiring of migrant workers only when necessary, and providing them with adequate protection. The reduction of foreign labor was also motivated by the outflow of remittances, estimated at RM500 million every year (US$132 million). Thus the government decided to limit the duration of stay of unskilled migrant workers from seven to three years, to avoid social costs and social problems. The rule, however, applied only to migrants coming from Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia.

Specific attention was devoted to some 176,000 domestic workers, mostly from Indonesia. In fact, more than 30,000 fled from their employers. Following reports of abuses, a committee was formed, comprised of representatives from the Human Resource Ministry, the Immigration Department, police, non-governmental organizations and embassies of countries whose nationals are working as househelpers, to find ways to improve the protection of domestic workers. The Workers’ Compensation Act of 1952 was extended to domestic workers, making it compulsory for employers to provide them with annual insurance. A minimum age of 25 years was imposed on new maids, while Muslim maids had first to agree whether they wanted to work for non-Muslim employers. The latter had to sign a letter, allowing maids to fulfill their religious obligations and not imposing tasks forbidden to Muslims, such as handling of dogs or pork. At the same time, the hiring of Filipino and Sri Lankan domestic workers was eased, with the reduction of employers’ minimum monthly income from RM10,000 to RM5,000. The Malaysia Association of Foreign Workers’ Agencies (Papa) negotiated a salary increase for domestic workers to bring it to RM700 for Filipino workers (with RM25 deduction for every day off) and to RM420 for Sri Lankan workers, who are not allowed any day off.

Despite attempts to exercise more control over immigration, cases of irregular migration continued to surface throughout the year. The Defense Ministry carried out operations against migrant workers in the coastal areas, while employers were caught providing fake permanent residence cards to employees who had no work permits. Some success was noted at the Thai-Malaysia border, where apprehensions decreased by 41 percent. Trafficking in women for prostitution, was uncovered, with women from Indonesia and the Philippines victimized by recruiters. The women were lured with jobs as factory workers or waitresses and were then forced to work in massage parlors and as prostitutes. The detention center at Semenyih, Selangor, was reopened after it was closed in the 1998 riot of the Acehnese and another was built in Tanjung Surat. About 1,700 Indonesians detained at Pekan Nenas were deported in March after they threatened to burn down the center because of unsatisfactory conditions. In fact, the government decided to immediately deport irregular migrants caught “fresh off boats” to avoid the expenses and complications of detention. From January to October 84,000 irregular migrants were deported, including 66,000 Indonesians, 4,944 Thais, 3,685 Burmese, 3,320 Bangladeshis, 2,400 Indians, 970 Pakistanis, 140 Filipinos and others. However, deportation is not a final solution since more than 70 percent of deported migrants return to the state shortly after, according to police. Official estimates of irregular migrants in Malaysia remain at approximately 300,000. Irregular migrants irked local residents because of the squatting areas they put up, the competition they create for small business and the rising crime rate attributed to them.

The issue of irregular migration remained serious in Sabah and Sarawak. In Sarawak, where about 55,000 foreign workers are employed (51,000 from Indonesia), the Federal Special Task Force revealed that 20,441 irregular migrants were repatriated in 1999, of whom 10,332 were sent back to the Philippines. From January to April, 4,297 were deported to Indonesia, twice the number deported in the same period the year before. However, the government’s plan of developing 60,000 to 70,000 hectares of palm oil plantations between 2001 and 2006 will create a demand for an additional 7,000 foreign workers. Some 30,000 foreign workers are already employed in the sector,  mostly Indonesians. Local workers prefer to work in other sectors of the economy and the urban-rural ratio is expected to change from the current 50:50 to 70:30 in the year 2020.

The government regarded irregular migration in Sabah as particularly serious. Estimates of migrants in Sabah ranged from 400,000 to 600,000, perhaps 100,000 of them in an irregular status. The Special Federal Task Force planned to deport 25,000, particularly workers afflicted with HIV, Hepatitis B, leprosy or cancer. Between April 1998 and March 2000, some 12,093 migrants were found with such diseases. Deportation became a touchy issue when more than 700 hundred workers were deported to the Philippines after the Abu Sayyaf kidnapped 21 foreign tourists in Sipadan and kept them hostage in Sulu, Philippines. The Philippine government viewed the deportation as retaliation while the Malaysian side viewed the presence of Filipinos in Sabah as a security concern. The leader of the opposition party Party Bersatu Sabah (PBS) claimed that some 96,000 irregular migrants are registered as voters and caused its party to lose elections in 1990.

It was discovered that Malaysia was also used as a transit point by syndicates smuggling Asian and African persons to western countries. Chinese and Iraqi migrants were among those caught in transit, together with Iranians, Sri Lankans and Thais. Cooperation with Australia, one of the intended final destinations, to curb trafficking of migrants was forged.