ISSUE management begins with the big picture. So must the issue related to the influx of foreign workers, legal and illegal, into Malaysia.
Instead, bromides about this and that solution to the issue make it to the media every now and then. Truth be told, they are nothing more than the small picture. Don't get us wrong.
This is not to belittle the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers' (FMM) view expressed in a press statement on Tuesday that an anti-Ali Baba law would go a long way to tackle the problem. Admittedly, it is an important tool, but a tool in a boxful of tools nevertheless.
Let's dissect some numbers. As of the end of December, there were 2.1 million documented foreign workers in the country, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM). The DOSM is of no help when it comes to undocumented foreigners. The International Organisation for Migration, an intergovernmental body of 152 nations, puts it at between 1.2 and 3.5 million. This is an unofficial estimate at best.
Next we enter a hazier zone, with a few news portals suggesting the number of illegal foreigners to be as high as six million. When considering such numbers, it is good to bear in mind an old warning of the World Bank: use with care for they have not been subjected to rigorous analysis. Perhaps this is why the DOSM has wisely stayed away from it.
By all means, listen to the call of the FMM and expedite the anti-Ali Baba law. But it is not going to put an end to the flood of foreign workers. Because not all undocumented foreigners are Ali Baba traders.
Be that as it may, Malaysians are in the habit of calling for all kinds of law in the face of problems. The problem is not the lack of laws— we have plenty of them— but lax enforcement. So, where do we start?
At the beginning of course. Let's be Japanese for a moment and ask a series of "why" questions as we go after the big picture. Why do we need foreign workers? Because locals don't want to work. Not true. Malaysians do the same work in as near a place as Singapore. Why? Better wages, housing, et al.
Granted, some businesses may not be able to afford living wages, but some are not even paying minimum wage. Why do we need 2.1 million foreign workers to run our economy?
Foreign labour makes up 15.3 per cent of Malaysia's workforce, the IOM estimates, and they are mostly dominating low-skilled and semi-skilled jobs in the manufacturing, plantation, agriculture, services and domestic work sectors.
Granted, we cannot do away with some low-skilled and semi-skilled jobs, but why 2.1 million? Also, we must ask why is it so easy for foreigners to overstay? Because employers are complicit. The arrest of 100 illegals in Brickfields on Monday is telling.
There is also a new trend where domestic workers are operating small businesses of their employers. Why such slack enforcement? Sure, there are laws that need a better bite, but merely passing the anti-Ali Baba law isn't going to make the influx go away. What will is a view from 3,000 feet, a.k.a. the big picture.
