Greed, not need, may be fuelling demand for 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers


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(TMI) – Profiteering, rather than market demand, could be behind the plan to still bring in 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers, said trade groups as local businesses face a rough year and more Malaysians lose their jobs.

The nation’s two largest groups of employers and private sector workers showed a rare moment of agreement when they both challenged the government’s persistent claims that industries needed these 1.5 million extra foreign workers.

The Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) and the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) usually disagree on everything concerning labour issues.

But in separate interviews, they both said that the billion-ringgit foreign labour supplier industry could be influencing the so-called demand for these 1.5 million new workers.

This is since each foreign worker usually nets a supplier between RM3,000 and RM4,000 per person in net profit, they said. Another cash cow was online services to process the applications.

Other critics of the plan such as Klang MP Charles Santiago (pic, below left) also pointed to the presence of former ministry officials in the business as a sign that this industry was having an undue influence in the plan and on foreign labour policies in general.

And then there’s the huge number of undocumented foreign workers, which the groups claimed could number 2.3 million or one for each legal worker.

“So, why not legalise and use the ones that are already here?” Santiago asked.

Where’s the demand?

Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had said that the 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers would be brought in stages and that they were needed in the plantation sector. He had also said their numbers would be tweaked and they would be distributed to other sectors, including manufacturing and construction.

The Malayan Agricultural Producers Association (MAPA) refutes the suggestion that the sector needs as many as 1.5 million foreigners, saying that on average there was only a shortage of 10,000 to 20,000 every year as workers return to their home countries and the vacant spots need to be refilled.

MAPA director Mohamad Audong added that the entire sector only employed between 350,000 and 400,000 workers at any one time.

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