Foreign Worker
A Malaysian Fantasy: Less dependence on foreign workers
Written by Dr. Lim Teck GheeTuesday, 04 August 2009 12:14
CPI Writings Commentary by Dr Lim Teck Ghee
There is hardly a day that passes when we do not read something about foreign labour in the newspapers.
The story could be about a heartless employer pouring boiling water on an Indonesian maid or labour contractors exploiting a Bangladeshi worker. Or it could be a Minister stating that he received an appeal from the MNCs for the Government to relax its policy on the importation of foreign labour. There just seems to be no shortage of news about this little understood segment of our Malaysian economy.
We should not be surprised at the increasing frequency of snippets of news on foreign labour. That's because foreign workers have steadily increased in number over the past two decades so that today they are a key part of the economy. However, for various reasons, the Government and the employers – both small and big – have tended to down play the importance of foreign labour in the country’s development.
Just recently, I was reading again through the Ninth Malaysia Plan. This document is the Government’s blueprint for national development for the period 2006-2010.
There is very little mention or analysis of 'foreign labour' in this economic bible of the Government. A quick check of the index shows only two references in a volume of almost 560 pages. One is a statement that foreigners with work permits increased to 1.7 million in 2005, with the manufacturing sector as the largest employer accounting for 31%. (9th Malaysia Plan, p.240)
Given our estimated national workforce was about 10.9 million in that year, this means that officially sanctioned foreign workers accounted for 15% of the total workforce, according to the official statistics. They come from over 15 countries with the largest number from Indonesia (1.2 million as of 2006). Other sending countries include India, Sri Lanka,
Written by Dr. Lim Teck GheeTuesday, 04 August 2009 12:14
CPI Writings Commentary by Dr Lim Teck Ghee
There is hardly a day that passes when we do not read something about foreign labour in the newspapers.
The story could be about a heartless employer pouring boiling water on an Indonesian maid or labour contractors exploiting a Bangladeshi worker. Or it could be a Minister stating that he received an appeal from the MNCs for the Government to relax its policy on the importation of foreign labour. There just seems to be no shortage of news about this little understood segment of our Malaysian economy.
We should not be surprised at the increasing frequency of snippets of news on foreign labour. That's because foreign workers have steadily increased in number over the past two decades so that today they are a key part of the economy. However, for various reasons, the Government and the employers – both small and big – have tended to down play the importance of foreign labour in the country’s development.
Just recently, I was reading again through the Ninth Malaysia Plan. This document is the Government’s blueprint for national development for the period 2006-2010.
There is very little mention or analysis of 'foreign labour' in this economic bible of the Government. A quick check of the index shows only two references in a volume of almost 560 pages. One is a statement that foreigners with work permits increased to 1.7 million in 2005, with the manufacturing sector as the largest employer accounting for 31%. (9th Malaysia Plan, p.240)
Given our estimated national workforce was about 10.9 million in that year, this means that officially sanctioned foreign workers accounted for 15% of the total workforce, according to the official statistics. They come from over 15 countries with the largest number from Indonesia (1.2 million as of 2006). Other sending countries include India, Sri Lanka,