How come Malaysia’s government is “Kerajaan Gagal”?

Yes, “Kerajaan Gagal”, “Rakyat Menderita”, 800,000 Malaysians are unemployed, and then Malaysia has 3.5 million foreign workers and still needs another one million because it is not enough.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

There are about 3.5 million foreign workers in Malaysia, which makes Malaysia the sixth-largest migrant-receiving country in East Asia according to the World Bank’s latest estimate.

The unemployment rate in Malaysia is about 5%, which means about 800,000 Malaysians are unemployed.

The manufacturing, construction and plantation industries are complaining that they are facing a shortage of workers. Many business owners are going to the Immigration Department to get illegal immigrants detained at various detention centres all over Malaysia to be released and legalised.

In other words, the government is legalising illegal immigrants so that the shortage of workers problem can be solved.

In the meantime, we have the anti-government activists from Umno and Pakatan Harapan screaming “Kerajaan Gagal”, “Rakyat Menderita”, and so on.

There are 3.5 million immigrant workers versus 800,000 unemployed Malaysians

I just don’t get it. The figures do not seem to add up.

Malaysia has 3.5 million foreign workers and that is still not enough. The industry needs about one million more foreign workers, but the government is not allowing them to come in. So, factory, plantation and construction company owners are visiting detention centres to employ legalised illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, Malaysia has about 800,000 unemployed workers.

If Malaysia is still short of one million workers, and if there are 800,000 unemployed Malaysians, there should logically be zero unemployment. So why are the anti-government activists from Umno and Pakatan Harapan screaming “Kerajaan Gagal”, “Rakyat Menderita”, etc.?

Employers are visiting Immigration detention centers to employ illegal immigrants because of the shortage of labour in Malaysia

Is it these 800,000 unemployed Malaysians refuse to work (like in the UK where many prefer to be on welfare than work)? Or is it they want only office jobs where they can wear a tie and they do not want to work in factories, plantations or the construction industry?

Or is it that salaries are so low and working conditions are so bad (meaning they get treated like slaves), which is why Malaysians do not want to do this type of work and only illegal immigrants are prepared to do so?

I was told the SMIs or SMEs, the majority which are Chinese owned, are guilty of exploiting foreign workers, especially the illegal immigrants. And this is not only in Malaysia. In Singapore it is the same thing — according to BBC and Aljazeera reports on the mistreatment of foreign workers in Singapore.

So, who is “gagal” here? Kerajaan gagal, or the employers gagal for exploiting workers, or the unemployed Malaysians who refuse to work gagal because they only want “good” jobs and not jobs in factories, plantations, or the construction industry?

Yes, “Kerajaan Gagal”, “Rakyat Menderita”, 800,000 Malaysians are unemployed, and then Malaysia has 3.5 million foreign workers and still needs another one million because it is not enough.