Myanmar workers flock to Malaysia
- By Tim McLaughlin and Nan Tin Thwe | Friday, 02 August 2013
The
line of eager job seekers standing in the daily monsoon rain stretches
for nearly a block outside the Malaysian embassy in Yangon.
They
are testament to the fact that, despite recent violence between Myanmar
workers in Malaysia and a subsequent ban on sending workers there, the
number hoping to be allowed to work in the Muslim nation has not
diminished.
About 3000 Myanmar nationals apply each month for
Malaysian work visas and the embassy says there has been no noticeable
decline.
Clashes between Buddhists and Muslims from Myanmar
occurred between May 30 to June 4 and were mostly confined to areas
around Kuala Lumpur. The most recent reports put the number killed at
six but details are scarce and the Malaysian authorities are still
investigating.
The violence prompted Deputy Minister for Foreign
Affairs U Zin Yaw and Deputy Minister for Labour, Employment and Social
Security Daw Win Maw Tun to visit Malaysia on June 11. Two days later
the Ministry of Labour announced it would stop granting migrant labour
cards that enable Myanmar nationals to seek employment in Malaysia.
Despite
the stoppage there has been no slump in applications, the Malaysian
embassy said. It is likely, however, that those applying for work visas
obtained the required documentation from the Ministry of Labour prior to
the ban being put in place and the number could drop in coming months
when the backlog has cleared.
Ministry of Labour officials insist that the measure is a temporary one but say no end date for the measure has been decided.
“As
situation the settles down, we will send workers again. We are worried
about [Myanmar workers] as they could face an uneasy situation there,”
said Daw Moh Moh Thwin, an officer from the Yangon Region Labour
Department.
However, there appears to be no solid evidence that
the violence in Malaysia is linked to clashes between Myanmar’s Buddhist
majority and the minority Rohyinga Muslim group in Rakhine State.
Charles
Hector, a lawyer and human rights activist in Malaysia, said the
religious violence in Myanmar and migrant workers clashes in Malaysia
were “not connected”.
Zafar Ahmad bin Abdul Ghani, president of
the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organisation Malaysia, agreed
and said that Rohyinga in Malaysia were “not involved in these attacks”.
The
concerns over the violence appear to have mostly emanated from Myanmar.
For many of the 300,000 legal Myanmar workers in Malaysia, this
presented the difficult choice of whether to leave their relatively
high-paying jobs and return home to their concerned relatives.
“My
mum was so worried so I had to come back,” said Ko Myo Aung, 43. He had
worked in Malaysia for 16 years and was running his own metal shop when
his elderly mother urged him to return home in early July. “I was ok
there. The situation was calm. I tried to explain that to her but it
didn’t work.”
He blamed sensationalised media reports, including
from Myanmar’s state-run outlets, for causing the uproar at home. Since
returning he has struggled to find a job and was disappointed with the
salary offered at a recent fair organised by the Department of Labour
for those who have come back from Malaysia.
“I’m glad that my
daughter graduated from high school last year. Otherwise, I don’t know
how I would handle it,” he said after receiving an offer of K6000 a day
from a local construction firm – not enough to make the K300,000 to
K400,000 a month he estimated he would need to cover his expenses and
live comfortably.
Thirty-one year old Ko Thant Zaw Oo was also
disappointed by Myanmar’s low wages after spending three years working
on construction sites in Malaysia, where he earned about K450,000 a
month.
“I was preparing to go back [to Malaysia] then this happened and my family won’t let me go back,” he said.
He
said he was treated well while working in Malaysia, and was paid
overtime, given medical leave and allowed to take public holidays off.
For
undocumented workers, however, the reality of life in Malaysia can be
strikingly different. Lured by false promises of high-paying jobs and
comfortable accommodation, many find themselves working long hours in
dangerous conditions with few avenues for gaining better conditions or
pay.
Despite Malaysian efforts to better manage the undocumented
workers, including a 2011 amnesty program, they “basically have no
rights”, Mr Hector said.
The Malaysian embassy estimates that there are 100,000 illegal Myanmar workers in Malaysia.
 |
| Pranom Somwong |
Pranom
Somwong, a representative of the Worker Hub for Change and Network of
Acton for Migrants in Malaysia, said workers’ efforts to push for the
authorities to ensure better conditions are often stifled by employers
or agents.
“When migrants do attempt to claim their rights they
are threatened, harassed, become victims of violence, summarily ‘shipped
back’ to their home country by employers or their agents, many times
with no real or effective protection or intervention by the state
authorities to prevent this injustice,” she said.
Until the recent violence, Myanmar nationals also lacked any support from their own embassy.
“The Burmese embassy [in Malaysia] has always been a problem,” Mr Hector said. “They are not keen to help.”
But
the recent violence has spurred nationalist pride among not just
government officials but also some of the country’s leading businessmen.
U Zaw Zaw, the managing director of Max Myanmar, U Tay Za, chairman of
Htoo Group, and officials from KBZ Bank and Myanmar Airways
International have all rushed to help undocumented workers who have been
injured or detained return to Myanmar.
About 2500 have returned
so far, the Ministry of Labour said. Their arrivals at Yangon airport in
corporate-branded shirts have been splashed across media outlets,
including Eleven Media Group, which last week said it had helped pay for
the return of over 120 workers.
Mr Hector said that he felt this
increased private sector role would be welcomed by the Malaysian
government, which has long been pressed Myanmar to take more
responsibility for its undocumented workers.
