About Bangladeshi workers, let’s put ourselves in their shoes

First of all, why do we call them "Bangla"? Many of us cannot even differentiate the nationality of the foreign workers (Myammar, Nepal, Bangladesh, etc), yet we like to lump them all together as "Bangla".

The debate over the 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers who are to be brought into the country took a right-wing turn when some citizens and groups capitalised on the insecurity of the locals to fuel racist and xenophobic comments.

News portals originally reported that the 1.5 million workers will be recruited over a three to five year period, while Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the 1.5 million number refers to “the number of Bangladeshi citizens already registered with their government to seek employment”.

Regardless, when such a huge figure is played out, locals tend to worry about their own position.

To a certain extent, I can empathise with that concern. Twice last year, when I was in KLIA after returning from overseas, I saw hundreds of foreign workers waiting at the immigration to get clearance.

There were so many of them that I felt compelled to take photos. Then I stopped and asked myself, “What am I doing?!” I realised my error and wondered what would these people think if they see me taking photos of them? They are not some exotic animals in the zoo or guilty criminals.

Remember the “human cage” found in the Thai-Malaysia border last year? More than 130 human beings, mostly Rohingya refugees fleeing from state persecution, were imprisoned in human cages made from wood and barbed wire. How on earth do we produce traffickers and smugglers capable of such cruelty?

It certainly didn’t begin with human cages, just like it didn’t begin with the gas chamber in Nazi Germany.

It begins with us dehumanising a whole group of people, fostering this “us versus them” mentality, and leading the rest of us to believe that the "others" are less deserving of a humane and dignified treatment than us.

Sometimes, we have to ask ourselves: Do we commit the things which we condemn others for doing? Do we subconsciously dehumanise foreign workers in Malaysia?

I feel this is particularly worth reflecting for those of us who champion anti-discrimination and anti-racism. As a minority, we should be able to emphatise with fellow minority groups, their dire straits and sense of powerlessness.

Yes, a few of them are involved in gangs and crimes. This occasionally made the news. Should we then lump them all as the same, like what Donald Trump said about “rapist Mexicans” and “terrorist Muslims”?

Remember, most of them come a long way to earn an honest living in our country. They work 10-12 hours a day, work much harder jobs that most of us could care to do, and often earn much less than us. They have a family too, and would often send most of what they earn back home.

That is, assuming that they get paid. Three days ago, a Myammar worker attempted suicide by slashing his neck after his employer refused to pay his salary. He has a name, Kyaw Lin Htike, and is just 24 years old, the same age as me.

Many foreign workers took a gamble by coming here. They have to pay a huge upfront cost to come here (often by incurring debts), and sometimes the promised jobs are not what they first appeared to be.

Whether it is legal or illegal migrant workers, employers tend to withhold their passports, making them vulnerable to exploitation. Some greedy employers don’t pay their workers for months while shamelessly profiting from their labour.

Putting myself in their shoes, I certainly wouldn’t come to a foreign land as a cheap, vulnerable worker if I had a choice. When I observe how we speak to the foreign workers in the kopitiam or restaurant, I notice that we tend to be very nice and tender to our family and friends, and then we whistle to the waiters and speak to them in a harsher tone than we normally would.

However, just because we pay them money does not mean we should treat them any less than a decent human being. They are not slaves and we are not their masters.

Given all this, can we even begin to appreciate their angst? I wonder if we deliberately refuse to do so because it will burden our conscience.

Of course, there are legitimate concerns about depriving the local citizens of work opportunities and that the presence of too many foreign workers will drive down the wages. I think it’s a matter of proportion.

Perhaps we need strong labour unions to protect our workers’ interest, and the government can impose more quotas and restrictions to reduce reliance and use of foreign labour. Unions and civil groups can pressure their Members of Parliament to increase (and enforce) minimum wage.

I would also think that either NGOs can mobilise to take care of the welfare of the foreign workers or an agency be formed for that purpose. We should also look into the possibility of letting them forming some sort of union or association to take up complaints of exploitation to the right authorities, e.g. their embassy.

This is beneficial to the locals too, because in the long run, their unions will resist exploitation and demand better work and living conditions. Employers will realise that foreign workers are not going to be easily exploited, nor will they be vulnerable and cheap. This will provide an incentive to reduce reliance on foreign labour.

Right now, they are the real minimum wage and if we seek to increase the national minimum wage, we should either increase the cost and wages of foreign labour, or empower them to demand appropriate wages and make it expensive for the employers.

I’m afraid that keeping foreign workers’ wage low and stagnant only yields the same result with regards to the locals’ minimum wage.

Being a researcher, I think this issue calls for a serious study on the impact of reliance on cheap foreign labour on the Malaysian economy beyond 2020.

Can we achieve high-income nation with low wages? Is there something systemically wrong with our recruitment process which make foreign workers vulnerable to severe exploitation? Are there reasonable avenues for redress, as well as policy recommendations for reforms?

Rather than abstract academic papers which no one reads and have no consequential effects, maybe we could provide grants and incentives for such studies on this phenomena.

Quite a large number of us have, or know someone close to us who has, been to another country to study or earn a living. We too have sought fortune in a foreign land at some point in our life.

Do we treat others at home like how we want to be treated abroad? Do we criticise Donald Trump abroad but act and sound like him at home? Let us be level-headed and more rational in approaching this issue, lest we turn an economic argument into a racist, xenophobic one. – February 13, 2016.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer, organisation or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.