Haslinda Abdullah, Hayrol Azril and Sulaiman Yassin
Faculty of Human Ecology and Institute for Social Science Studies (IPSAS), Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Selangor
ABSTRACT
Malaysia aims to achieve the status of developed country by 2020. To realize this, each sector is accelerating their development progress, especially in the industrial, services and agriculture. To support this rapid development, problems related to inadequate number of human resources need to be solved and reliance on the migrant workers seem to be an effective solution. Although the migrant workers are providing strong support to the development progress in Malaysia, nevertheless, their presence in a big number are said to impact the local community. This paper aims to provide a conceptual understanding on the impacts of migrant workers on the Malaysian society. This paper relies on document analyses and reviews of literature as the main technique in collecting the required data. Based on the analyses performed, it can be concluded that albeit migrant workers huge contribution towards the country development especially in term of providing adequate number of human resources, their presence in a big number are found to results in several negative impacts in relation to the economics, social, health, safety and security aspects of the Malaysian community. Based on the findings, the paper highlights a number of recommendations and it is a hope that it can assist harmonise existence of the migrant workers in Malaysian community.
Keywords: International relations; Migrant workers; Community development; Human resources.
INTRODUCTION
Malaysia aims to be a developed country by 2020 and each sector is accelerating their development progress, especially in the industrial, services and agriculture sectors. Such acceleration has resulted in a higher demand for labor force which currently are not able to be matched by local human resources. Consequently, having this problem has led the government to opt for the supply of migrant workers as one of the effective solutions.
Statistics produced by the Ministry of Human Resources (2014), shows that there are 5.8 million migrant workers in Malaysia and the number is expected to be greater if the calculations related to illegal migrant workers are included.
The influx of migrant workers in Malaysia has produced some impacts on the socio- economic landscape of the country. Although the government has taken many initiatives to reduce the impacts, several issues especially one related to the administration and management of migrant workers between the supply country (importers) and Malaysian authorities are said to be the main cause for the initiatives failure. Understandably, the impacts of migrant workers on the socio-economic landscape of the country are expected to worsen if appropriate actions are not taken by the concern parties.
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Furthermore, the review of the literature found that the number of studies related to the issue of migrant workers, particularly in relation to the impacts of their presence is little that has led to a profound lack of understanding on the issue of migrant workers and lead to ineffective policy or program established by the concern parties.
A. Problem Statement
The development of this paper is based on two main research problems. First, although there are a lot of initiatives and measures taken by the concern parties, there are still many problems that arise mainly related to the presence of migrant workers who are deemed to be managed efficiently (Mohamed et al., 2012; Hassan, 2009).
Secondly, although there are increasing concern in the country, the number of studies on the issue of migrant workers, particularly in respect of the impacts of their presence is very little.
At the global level, a lot of research on issues related to the impacts of migrant workers was conducted and this has contributed to a clear and comprehensive understanding of the impact of the influx of migrant workers (Blazek, 2014; Spinu 2013; Ounjit, 2013; Prayitno et al., 2013; Chunyan, 2011; Agunias and Agazham, 2012; Lee et al., 2011; Gu et al., 2007).
However, unlike abroad, the same scenario cannot be found in Malaysia. Although some local studies have placed their focus on the impacts of migrant workers (NPFDB, 2000;
Abdul Rahman et al., 2012; Mohamed et al, 2012; Hassan, 2009) nevertheless, the number is inadequate and this has led to a profound lack of understanding on issue related to migrant workers. This surface understanding eventually will lead to policies or programs established by the concern parties to be less effective and not in line with the ability of the executive.
Based on this research problem, the Malaysian Peace Foundation (YPM) and the Institute for Social Science Studies (IPSAS) has took the initiative to conduct a study regarding the problems and issues of migrant workers in Malaysia. This paper on the other side has presented a portion of this study which focused on the efforts to identify the impacts of migrant workers presence to the Malaysian society. Via this effort, it is a hope that it can provide opportunities to generate a better understanding and thus can help the concern parties to develop a strategic and effective planning that able to combat problems associated with presence of migrants workers in the country. In addition, having this paper will assist to unlock the following questions:
• What are the impacts that are resulted from the presence of migrant workers in Malaysia?
• How is the management and administration of migrant workers in Malaysia could be implemented more effectively to further reduce the impacts migrant workers presence to the local society?
MATERIALS AND METHODS
This paper focuses on the impacts of ASEAN migrant workers on Malaysian society (afterwards will be referred as migrant workers). To come out with the specific impacts, we first try to develop flows of taught that are associated with the aims of this paper whereby at the first stage of the development, the discussion on the arrival of migrant workers is constructed, followed by the drivers that gear migrant workers to work in Malaysia. Then the discussions come to its main objective whereby focus are placed on the negative and positive effects of migrant workers on Malaysian society. Furthermore, based on the discussions, a number of recommendations are highlighted. The development of this flows of taught is
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based on document analyses and review of literature whereby suitable articles were sought by referring to several sources such as established database (Google Scholars, Science Direct and Scopus) and engine search (Google and Yahoo) and this effort was based on searching keywords such as ASEAN workers, impacts of migrant workers, social impact of migrant workers and economic impacts of migrant workers. Additionally, a number of printed documents were also referred.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
A. The Arrival of Foreign Workers to Malaysia
If you look at history, migrants began to enter the Federation of Malaya began in the 19th century at the time, Malaya is undergoing social and economic development of a vibrant. At that time, there was some push and pull factors that lead to the outside world, especially from China (mainly from Kwangtung and Fukien province) and India (mostly from Negapatam and Madras) came to work in Malaya. Among the major pull factors at that time was the development of some industries, particularly in connection with its tin and rubber. Demand for workers is increasing as a result of the Malays at that choose to work on their own land than to work with the British in the tin mines and rubber plantations.
The number of those from China and India who came to work in Malaya are keep increasing particularly during the arrival of British in the Malay states whereby the prevailing political stability enables the exploitation of economics and politics in full. Besides workers from China and India, there are also workers who come from Indonesia, Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Riau and other Indonesian islands to work in Malaya at that time.
Looking back at the history, migrant workers began to flood Malaysia in the 80s, mostly from ASEAN countries such as Indonesia, Filipina, Thailand and other Asian countries such as Bangladesh and Pakistan. In the 80s, the emerging mega projects as well as the economic boom has attracted many foreign investors. Consequently, this situation has resulted in a higher demand for labour force and due to inadequate number of local human resources by that time, it has forced the government to bring migrant workers to the country. Official figures show the number of migrant workers in Malaysia is increasing. Comparatively, in the 90s their number reached 0.6 million, however, after more than 20 years, the number has significantly increased to 5.8 million people and this number is expected to increase if the number of those who illegally entered the country are taken into account (Ministry of Human Resources, 2014)
An increasing number of migrant workers is due to several factors that will be discussed in the next section:
B. Factors Causing ASEAN Workers Coming to Malaysia
There are several factors that cause migrant workers coming to Malaysia. It can be divided into two main factors , namely the economic and the social factors. Economic factors are the main factors that cause migrant workers coming to Malaysia. Standard of living, low salaries and difficulty to get employed in their country has caused migrant workers to migrate either to a developed or developing countries for a better living of standards and a better income (Hassan, 2009; Mohamed et al., 2012). Most of them perceived Malaysia as "Gardens of the World" due to a big number of employment opportunities and higher wage rates (NPFDB, 2000).
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One of the factors that led to the arrival of migrant workers to Malaysia is the choosy attitude of local people regarding selection of occupation (Abdul Rahman et al., 2012). Their refusal to work in certain sectors resulting in the dumping of the work in Malaysia especially in the construction, manufacturing and agriculture. Furthermore, consistent high demand from employers also attract migrant workers to Malaysia and it is driven by several factors such as low wage costs, positive attitude, disciplined and skillful . In addition, a better level of education possessed by Malaysian society nowadays has led to changes in the local employment trend and this scenario has opened up a lot of space for the non-professional jobs. In addition, government policies that open up greater investment opportunities for the foreign investors have created more job opportunities, thus, attract migrant workers to come to Malaysia (NPFDB, 2000).
As for social factors, among which are the main cause of migrant workers coming to Malaysia is political instability in their home countries. Such scenario sometimes causes chaos and led to their migration to a stable and peaceful country like Malaysia. Some of the migrant workers have family ties with people in Malaysia and if one look at the origins of history, indeed most of the communities in Malaysia come from neighbouring countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines (NPFDB, 2000). In addition, the majority of Malaysian society share the same culture and religion with the ASEAN community and this has positioned Malaysia as a premier destination to find work. The government's openness to accept the migrant workers has also caused migrant workers arrival to this country.
Furthermore, available service such as medical examination and applications for grant work permits are among the main drivers for their migration.
Language and cultural factors that are more or less the same things also contribute to the mass entry of migrant workers in Malaysia, especially workers from Indonesia and the southern Philippines. These factors accelerate the process of adjustment which then results in their comfort despite being in a foreign country (NPFDB, 2000).
C. Effect of Foreign Workers Coming to Malaysia
National Council of Professor (2014) in their conference, entitled 'National dilemma: Issues and Challenges Migrant Workers in Malaysia' have emphasized the important role played by migrant workers in the country to ensure continuous development, however, they also stressed the problems arising from the uncontrolled arrival of migrant workers can cause negative effects on the socio-economic aspects of the local people. The next focus will be given to the positive and negative effects arising from the return of migrant workers to Malaysia with specific attention place on ASEAN migrant workers.
D. Negative Effect
From an economic perspective, ASEAN migrant workers can help fill the void in an industry that is less popular with local people. However, competition in the local labor force still exists for sectors other than manufacturing, farming, domestic helpers, construction, agriculture, manufacturing (eg tourism and services). In addition, there is also a high dependence on migrant workers for certain industries (eg construction industry / farming/maid) and this can have an adverse impact on the national economy (Marhani et al., 2012). The arrival of migrant workers also have an adverse impact on the value of the national currency in which it was reported that they had exported a total of RM20 billion annually to their country of origin (Azizah et al., 2013). In addition, managing migrant
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workers placed in detention center or prison consume a lot of government money which supposedly to be invested in other development aspects (Ajis et al., 2014).
From a social perspective, the arrival of migrant workers has caused inconvenience to the local community (NPFDB, 2000). Their numbers are too many at one time (eg festivals) have led many local residents feel as if they are in migrant countries. The arrival of migrant workers has forced the local community to share public infrastructure and services related to health, toilets and sports facilities (Azizah, 2013). In addition, their arrival have resulted in problem of housing, including slums and illegal settlements (Ministry of Finance, 2006). The illegal settlements in turn causes the government millions of ringgit in losses because they get water and electricity illegally. There are also reports that the social problems that brought migrant workers in a relationship with a local girl (Ajis et al., 2014).
The arrival of migrant workers in large numbers can pose a threat to Malaysia. Tragedy in Lahad Datu, although is not caused by the migrant workers, can actually demonstrate their ability to create chaos in the country. Furthermore, previous studies had also reported the involvement of migrant workers in criminal activities such as prostitution, robbery, murder, arms trafficking, human trafficking, drug trafficking and forming alliances with extremist groups and they are said to contribute 2% of the crime rate in our country (Fair Labor Association, 2008; Azizah, 2013; Mohamed et al., 2012; Ajis et al., 2014; National Council of Professor, 2014).
In the context of health, the arrival of migrant workers into Malaysia have led to the rare and new diseases along with reappearance of some diseases that have been eliminated or. Among the diseases referred to is tuberculosis, influenza (Influenza A H1N1 or H5N1), malaria, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and polio (Utusan Malaysia, 2011; Ajis et al., 2014). The presence of migrant workers in a big number has placed pressure to the health services in Malaysia where more hospitals and health workers are needed to accommodate the increasing number of patients (NPFDB, 2000).
In addition to the impact on the economic, social, health and safety, the arrival of migrant workers is also likely to impact the political aspect. Arrests and retransmission of migrant workers to their home countries for example, is expected to create conflicts between two countries (Azizah, 2013).
E. Positive Effects
Although presence of migrant workers in Malaysia has resulted in a number of negative impacts, nevertheless, there are some previous studies that discussed the positive impact of their arrival. National Council of Professors (2014) for example, have stressed the importance of the legal status of migrant workers to be treated as 'guest workers' as their positive contribution to national development.
Other positive impacts resulted from the migrant workers presence in the country is associated with their ability to fulfil the demand on human resources for sectors such as manufacturing, farming, domestic helpers, construction, agriculture and manufacturing whereby a majority of Malaysians are found to express their refusal and hesitance to involve in (NPFDB, 2000; Abdul Rahman et al., 2012). Moreover, their contribution to increase the productivity of the country especially in relation to manufacturer, agriculture and services cannot be denied (Abdul Rahman et al., 2012; National Council of Professors, 2014).
154 CONCLUSIONS
The overall finding suggests that the presence of migrant workers in the country is producing more negative effects than the positive effects. The document analysis shows that there are two ministries which play a crucial role in the recruitment / admission of migrant workers - the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Human Resources. Hence it is vital for both ministries to work together and come out with a holistic solution for the existing issues related to migrant workers who is illegal.
With due respect to all migrant workers who has contributed to Malaysian development, there is a dire need for the Malaysian government to provide more systematic process of recruiting and repartition of the migrant workers. This is to ensure a win-win situation that will benefit both – the Malaysian society and the ASEAN community whereby at one side the Malaysian society will continue to experience and benefit from the rapid development in the country while at another side, the migrant workers, especially from ASEAN countries can enjoy the availability of wealth, peace and harmony in Malaysia.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of YayasanPengaman Malaysia for providing financial support to carry out this study
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