Research on Undocumented Migrants in Malaysia released
The APMM and INFORM conducted this study on undocumented migrants in Malaysia, with an emphasis on migrants from Indonesia and the Philippines. It covers the condition of illegal migrant workers in Malaysia from their arrival until their departure, as well as how government actions and responses aggravated the already precarious situation of undocumented migrants in the face of the pandemic catastrophe. It views the situation as a systemic issue of worldwide exploitation and control of migrant labor in both receiving and exporting nations.
Collaborators
This Research is a collaborative effort by researchers from APMM and INFORM. The APMM (Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants) is a regional organization that promotes migrant empowerment and mobilisation through advocating and lobbying, research and education, and community development. It believes that empowered migrants are critical to protecting migrants' rights, implementing policies that benefit them and their families, and contributing to development that benefits the people.
INFORM (Interfaith Network for Migrant Rights) is a coalition of Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist religious communities that support migrants' fight for justice, human rights, and steady employment, as well as against all types of abuse, exploitation, trafficking, and modern slavery.
Research Findings
In Malaysia, the situation of illegal Indonesian and Filipino migrant laborers is abominable. It is systemic, inherent to the migratory system. As such, it is institutionalized and works primarily inside the legal system. Low pay, deplorable working conditions, repression, and other abuses of labour rights are not isolated occurrences, but rather the outcome of the labour system in both sending and receiving nations. The COVID-19 Pandemic has not only shed light on the existing conditions, also amplified migrant workers’ suffering, with regards to their health as well as their socioeconomic status. During the COVID-19 epidemic, coercive measures were implemented in a number of nations. Those states with a sizable migrant population enacted measures that tightened border control and restricted migrant movement. Because of the pandemic's widespread nature, countries such as Malaysia see foreigners or migrants as possible carriers of the virus, as well as additional expenditures and competitors of people in need of social assistance.
Malaysian, Indonesian, and Philippine policies attempt to benefit from employees through labor profits, work contract fees, and remittances. These governments use the strategy of criminalizing people who do not follow the rules, rather than protecting employees' rights. The largest primary employers in Malaysia are multinational businesses and investors operating in the Southeast and South Asian areas. They stand to benefit the most from replicating the system of recruiting illegal workers. Workers and other stakeholders in both receiving and exporting nations might establish unions and collaborate with global actors and associations. They can devise integrated tactics and coordinated activities aimed at resisting migrant workers' exploitation and oppression on a national scale, such as campaigning for greater pay and benefits, opposing layoffs, upholding workplace health and safety, and organizing unions. Even while global and national players are held accountable for the working conditions of undocumented migrant workers, the importance of national policies and actions should not be overlooked. While global factors drive these circumstances, exploitation and tyranny are entrenched at the national level via national policies and institutions. Sending nations that follow the neoliberal paradigm of labor deregulation and labor migration must be held accountable for exposing employees to such exploitative and repressive practices. They have abdicated their responsibilities to their employees and the general public. The current labor market deregulation strategy in these three nations should be replaced with one focused on national growth of domestic industries (manufacturing, agriculture, and services) that offer fair salaries and free social benefits. Poverty, exploitation, and tyranny in sending nations will continue to force people to migrate to other countries, where they will face different degrees but the same kind of conditions. Workers' rights should be defined in accordance with their requirements, rather than in accordance with the rules of the nations in which they work. Most importantly, they must collaborate to assert these rights. It is primarily up to employees and citizens in both sending and receiving nations to improve their working conditions and create the ground for systemic improvements.