sideviews
The ready foreign manpower in our midst – Bina Ramanand
If there is a manpower shortage, employers and officials should consider the following four categories of people who are also migrants, who are already here in the country. No need for consultants to do any research, no need for a PhD to figure it out, just some good old common sense.
Non-Malaysian spouses of citizens
Why do their visas come with the statement "prohibited from all forms of employment"? Their families are Malaysian. Isn’t the right to livelihood a fundamental right? No employer wants to recruit them, with this recorded on their passports, even though the Immigration Department says they can work with an endorsement.
Again, why are spouses of Malaysians not allowed to work for the first six months of their Long Term Social Visit Pass (LTSVP) or the spouse visa?
The difficulties you unintentionally cause are to their Malaysian families. They need to provide for their family, and money earned by them is spent here in Malaysia.
Refugees
As of end 2015, there are 156,340 refugees and asylum seekers here in Malaysia, according to UNHCR. Some of them are here for generations with their families.
Why are we not allowing them into the workforce, when they are already in the country? Let's allow this group of people some dignity.
Undocumented workers
If it is said that there are approximately 1.7 million undocumented workers, can they not be regularised and allowed into the workforce, since they are here in the country?
Foreign students
As of December 31, 2014, there were close to 100,000 foreign students studying in both public and private tertiary institutions.
These students should be allowed to work, to cover some of their living expenses, as in other countries. They face untold sufferings trying to make ends meet. After all, they are here in the country and they would provide a higher level workforce to the economy.
Surely, these migrants too can contribute to Malaysia’s human capital. Let this be a call that they be given dignity, as they also contribute to the growth of this nation. – February 19, 2016.
* Bina Ramanand is coordinator, Foreign Spouses Support Group.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.
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