The plight of migrant workers

HE hangs on to the large blue garbage truck that goes around the neighbourhood three times a week. Picking up smelly rotting food, soiled napkins and unwanted items.
She washes the plates, cuts the ingredients, serves the food at the stall the whole day without a break. At night she goes back and does the house chores, the washing and cleaning for her employer. She wakes up early to make breakfast, do the marketing and the work day has not even started.
He builds roads and now he is working on the MRT. A lot of the work is underground, dirty and heavy. The day starts early and ends late. His feet are cut from ill-fitting boots, his lungs are affected by the dirt and dust of working such projects, but he’s working through it.
These are the people contributing to building our country and yet none of them are Malaysian. You see them everywhere, everyday – the security guard at the car park, the workers the contractor brings, the cleaning lady in the office, the cashier at the supermarket, the petrol station staff – this list can go on.
How much do you think he gets paid? Where does he live? How does he live? How much will she make at the end of the month and will that be enough, will she be paid? Are they safe and what happens when they fall ill or if there is a work-related accident? Who and what protects them?
While our dependency on migrant labour has increased rapidly, these are questions we probably would rather not know the answers to unfortunately. If we were to start caring, we will have to pay more for their services and as it is, it is hard to make ends meet.
In 2012, Malaysia reported housing 2.8 million migrant labourers – legal and illegal. That number has increased today with migrant labour accounting for 16% of Malaysia’s workforce. To simplify the statistic, if we were to assume a population of a hundred people, 16 would be migrant workers – that is a large enough number for our race-centric country to acknowledge migrant workers as a third race as they surpass the 10% of the recognised third race.
We have become so dependent on such a large group of people who we tend to consider a disposable workforce. Yet we have little to protect this group of people who seem to do the work we Malaysians refuse to do, and there is a danger in not paying attention to their needs. There are quite a few issues that need regulation, one of which is health concerns.
We can pretend that these migrant workers do not live in deplorable living spaces but the reality is they do – that is what makes their labour “cheap” – the lack of basic rights. Imagine how fast disease can spread in such areas where there are no proper basic amenities. Too scared of being fired, many work through illnesses. Now imagine how fast these illnesses can spread. Can we really afford not to care?
For many Malaysians this was not our job – there was Irene Fernandez. She did that on our behalf. She was the activist that fought for migrant workers. I don’t know about you but when news of her passing spread, I wondered now who would speak for the invisible hands that have helped to build our country, who would speak for these migrant workers.
In a time of our history when there are fewer and fewer personalities who truly give their lives for others, maybe it is time that instead of hoping for another champion, we do our bit by treating the migrants we are in contact with better, by noticing them and speaking to them and treating them as our equals – a tough call for you and me but one that will both give us the dignity of being human.
Natalie believes that mechanisms to protect sending and receiving countries is a great start but what is on paper needs to become a reality. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com