Bangladeshis are our friends too – Nur Adilah Ramli

When the government broke the news about importing 1.5 million foreign workers from Bangladesh, Malaysians, at least those I stumbled upon on social media, were obviously mad and unhappy to receive them into this country.

I was also not happy thinking that soon, we Malaysians would have a hard time in securing jobs now that the foreigners are more favoured by the market, especially as they are given a fairly low wage not relevant to the amount of work that has to be done.

I am sure that Malaysians don't want to be beggars in their own country. Thus, it is only natural that the news has created a stir in our society, who can't take more bad news after all that happened.

Now that their arrival is put on hold – which can mean that they will still come if there's a real demand from the local market – Malaysians can, for the time being, tone down their anger, though they are still unconvinced by the news as prior to that, it was reported that the memorandum of understanding (MoU) had been agreed upon by both countries, Malaysia and Bangladesh.

But what I am concerned about, other than job competition, is the way we treat the Bangladeshis. The news about their coming has raised concern among the citizens who claim that the foreigners will contribute to the rise in social problems.

The many negative perceptions on some Bangladeshis are unfortunately attached to the whole of them including those who are innocent but sadly prejudiced. And this is a huge concern as speaking on the ground of humanity, we are equal. Therefore, it is unfair for them to be regarded as potential rapists, or suspected as bandits.

I've met a few Bangladeshis who are not only hardworking, but also sincere in doing their works. One is Somir who works for my father for already a few years now.

Leaving his wife and daughter in Bangladesh, he came to Malaysia with his son to do all sorts of works to make a living and sustain his family in Malaysia and also in Bangladesh.

He is a construction worker by day and a watchman by night. But he has been taking up the #2kerja challenge, in addition to doing a number of other #3d (difficult, dirty, dangerous) works like cleaning garage and helping out at orchards.

Thus far, he has been doing a lot of favours for our family, so when some people associate Bangladeshis with crime as if doing crime is in their DNA, I feel sorry for ourselves for being so hateful to those who have benefited our country tremendously.

Another Bangladeshi I have met is Salam, a construction worker who also works for my father. One day at my sister's boutique, he came to see my sister to ask about body scrub he just bought from my sister.

“Kenapa kulit saya tak putih?” he asked my sister as the scrub apparently didn't work on his skin the way he wanted. My sister explained to him that the scrub won't change the skin colour, but it would peel off the dead skin cells.

Hearing that, I felt sorry, again, for our society for discriminating colours. And we can't always blame the media for how we perceive people. Wanting to have a fair skin is a preference that I have no right to question, but choosing people based on their skin colours is also not our right.

I'm not sure whether his wanting to be fair is because of social pressure or because of his own wish, and in fact, it's not really about skin colour that I hope to highlight.

I just want to make a point that we should treat Bangladeshis and other foreigners the same good way we treat our fellow Malaysians. I have to clarify that this is not about opening our door to more foreigners, but this is a call to all of us to respect the foreigners who are serving for our country, fulfilling our needs, and making a living in our prosperous land.

When the time comes, and when we are ready to fully depend on ourselves, the foreigners will be deported to their countries back. Their stay here to serve us, aside from making ends meet, should not be a hell for them.

It is already hard for them to leave their countries and families at home, let us not make their lives harder when what they do is striving every day to make our days better. – February 22, 2016.

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