By M. Kula Segaran
IPOH, Malaysia--While other participating Asian Citizens will be able to take advantage of earning high salaries, it is unfortunate that Malaysians have to put up with restrictions in the growing global labour mobility.
Two years ago some Sabahans and Sarawakians were misled by a recruitment agency to go and work in Cambodia, promising high salaries. Based on press reports the recruitment agency was found out to be a front for a human trafficking syndicate. .
Such previous abuses warrant formal agreement with governments to ensure International Labour standards are adhered to that would help curtail force labour. .
In this regard the Australian government is right to have a formal agreement with all countries which includes Malaysia that would entail respect for welfare and labour rights as well as opportunities to enhance skills of these workers
It is also important to note that the Australian ASEAN farm workers visa scheme accorded both the Australian government and Malaysian governments a way to eradicate a significant number of Malaysians working in Australian farms under exploitative conditions.
In the year 2020 we signed a memorandum of cooperation (MOC) with Japan in order to send our semi-skilled workers to the country to resolve the acute labour shortage.
Our decision was based on a strategic vision for Malaysian workers to learn high level technology and skills from advanced countries besides ensuring the welfare and human rights of these workers are taken care of.
We also understood that it is not the government's duty to deny Malaysians good jobs overseas.
Every Malaysian has an inherent right for a better life in searching for work in greener pastures when we are unfortunately still dependent on cheap labour..
It is only natural for a person to look for the highest amount of wages so that they can retire comfortably. Why must the government stop them?
Is Malaysia also going to call back all 500,000 odd Malaysian workers working in Singapore and other countries? Earnings from other countries would eventually flow back into the country and; this would help boost the Malaysian economy.
Malaysians who work overseas will not only be earning a good starting wage, but will also be gaining high levels of experience in skill, ideas and even technology that they can then bring back to Malaysia upon their return.
The Malaysian government today should look into ways on how to upskill and re-skill workers without denying them their human rights to progress elsewhere.
It is by changing conditions of labour in terms of remuneration and creating fair employment practices in the country that we will be able retain our brightest human capital.
I appeal to the Prime Minister to reverse this irrational decision by the Human Resources Minister and urge his cabinet to be more sensitive to the plight of average Malaysians that want to earn an honest living and feed their families in the best way they can.
Malaysia, being elected as a member of the 18-seat United Nations Human Rights Council, should not deny its own citizens their human rights to work overseas.
*M. Kula Segaran is the Ipoh Barat Member of Parliament*
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