It is a little disturbing to see police personnel stopping migrant workers on the streets of Kuala Lumpur; you just know what's coming next. First the dialogue, then documents changing hands and finally (and resignedly), a wad of bank notes changes hands too.

No big deal though, happens all the time. Lowly paid officers preying on lowly paid, unprotected migrant workers.

There may be the occasional fuss by locals over jobs taken up by foreign workers. Never mind that most of the so-called 'lost' jobs are those that Malaysians would not touch even with a barge pole

Jobs in disaster-prone construction sites; low-paid, labour-intensive plantation jobs; or waiting tables for 12 hours straight in the neighbourhood mamak restaurants. Jobs designed for a cheap, unprotected labour force. Jobs tailored to reap maximum profit for employers, while exploiting the unprotected worker.

The government is not exactly scampering to stop the exploitation of migrant workers. Instead, the immigration department has made it harder for migrant workers to live in their adopted countries by tightening policy and legislation. All this has been done to make it easier for employers to control the movement of their illegal workers.

Some legal workers, meanwhile, report that employers hold on to their work permits and personal documents . This acts as a leash these workers can't leave their jobs, lest they face deportation. They also find it hard to bargain for better pay or working conditions.

At best, a more stringently imposed immigration law has only resulted in more paper work and bureaucracy. It has not deterred unemployed workers looking for jobs wherever these are available. And this is really the core of the issue.

The unemployment pool

Massive unemployment in third world countries has created a pool of 'floating' migrant population looking for jobs across borders. In the process, they are uprooted from their own communities and alienated in their adopted countries.

The sweeping process of economic globalisation has generated massive unemployment in third world countries. Once public services like water, electricity, transportation and healthcare are privatised, the workforce is reduced, while the price of services soars.

That's what privatisation does to common goods and services provided to the population. It commodifies everything remotely 'public' any enterprise for public use, which has been low-cost and accessible and turns them into a cash generator that benefits private shareholders.

Globalisation has also put a particularly precious commodity up for sale. It's people people . Unemployment in third world countries has created a cheap, flexible commodity that is labour. Since job security is very low when unemployment is high, working folk can't demand for better terms too loudly, can they?

So a pool of unemployment certainly benefits corporations in a big way. Are Malaysian construction companies looking for cheap, dispensable, unprotected workers? No need to look too far since Indonesia and Bangladesh are eager to offload their unemployed population.

Impact of tight policy

Constricted by rigid immigration laws, the workers sent abroad are vulnerable to exploitation by employers, resulting in workplace abuse, low pay and terrible working conditions about which the migrant workers are afraid to complain. It would be the word of the rich, influential employer against that of the underpaid, unprotected migrant worker. No Brownie points for guessing who would win the case.

As for migrant workers who come in illegally, it's pretty obvious that they would be at the mercy of employers. There are stories of how the authorities are tipped-off about illegal workers in particular companies, resulting in immigration officers and police personnel being practically invited to haul them off.

Those deported can always be replaced by an incoming batch of illegal workers, adding to the glee of employers who would "save" on paying back wages due to the deportees. This is one impact of the tighter immigration policy.

Migrant workers come cheap; illegal workers come practically free of charge if one knows one's way around the system. Isn't that fantastic?

The global village

A global economy also sees multinational corporations coming into poorer countries to gorge on the public goods, resources, cultural and personal space of communities and their time and labour.

The difference between poor workers and powerful multinationals is that the latter are free of most impediments of immigration laws. The lifeless, non-breathing global corporation may come and go as it pleases, sapping the energy of underpaid workers and dumping waste in a poor country. Human beings, though, are not accorded the same privilege.

Non-human entities are accorded more rights and freedoms than human beings. Now what is it that proponents say about globalisation breaking down borders, turning the world into one big global village?

Indonesia with a population of two billion has up to 40 million unemployed citizens. That's twice the population of Malaysia. That's worth repeating 40 million people who are jobless in Indonesia is twice the population of Malaysia!

Indonesia has had to 'liberalise' its economy as a pre-condition to receiving the IMF bailout programmes following the 1997 regional financial crisis.

Public enterprises were sold off to foreign capital along with Indonesia's rich resources. With important utilities owned by private enterprises, it was natural as ordained by the rule of cost cutting for profit margin massive layoffs followed. Now, 40 million are jobless. There are other reasons of course, but privatisation is certainly one of the main culprits.

Plight of the insecure

Very methodical this business of creating unemployment, they even have a nice term for it; 'flexibility of labour market'. When there's a steady pool of unemployment and low job security, workers became insecure. An insecure worker is a worker who doesn't demand too much, who has low bargaining power, and who doesn't dare ask for better pay or working conditions, fearing he or she may be replaced.

All in all, these workers become the kind of "model employees" employers love to have around. An unemployment pool justified the opinion that it's better to have a job, regardless of how badly it pays, than to be unemployed.

'Flexibility of labour market' is the neat economic lingo that can be described as a simplified equation 1+1+1=3 (privatisation + massive unemployment + low job security = enormous profit margin).

It is flexible for employers to dip into the unemployment pool, looking for prospective employees who don't demand too much. It's flexible for employers to hire and fire at will, considering there are plenty of unemployed people who could replace those sacked. It is flexible for employers to dictate employment terms, by offering meagre wages and fewer benefits.

With the price of necessities such as cooking oil, gas, electricity, healthcare and water skyrocketing courtesy of globalisation, unemployed Indonesian workers face especially bleak times.

Questions of survival

Anyone pressed against the wall, with questions of survival hanging over the head, would do just about anything to live another day. What would people do in order to survive?

They would find work wherever it is available and the prosperous Malaysia beckons. Very unhealthy jobs with very insecure arrangements, but jobs nonetheless. And oh look, the low-paid, high-risk jobs that a Malaysian won't accept are mainly available to migrant workers, too.

A pool of floating migrant workers offers real advantages for prospective employers. They're not represented by a union, thus no bargaining power. They're easy to dispose of, thus no retrenchment compensation. They're contract workers, thus no job security needed. Terrific arrangement. Which employer wouldn't like to have such a team of workers?

And the details? The uprooted communities, devastated environment, the stripped livelihood, the long hours, low pay and horrible working conditions don't come into the equation. They call these issues "non-trade barriers". That's another economic term, by the way. If it doesn't have any direct bearing to the profit margin, it is a 'non-trade barrier'.

Globalisation or neo-liberalism is a sweeping economic process transforming the world to fit the dictates of free trade. The 'floating' migrant workers are an offshoot of this global economy, radically altering the way humans relate to one another, our environment and communities. It is pitting workers from this side of the border against workers from the other side. Those who benefit are corporations and employers.

Malaysia, much like Indonesia, is a developing country very much engaged in the mechanics of a global economy. We're also experiencing an increase in unemployment and a steady process of privatisation. Much like Indonesia, we're also quite dependent on multinational corporations investing in the country.

This may lead to a future where we see young Malaysians uprooted from their homes, and forced to look for employment in countries that do not welcome them.

At the accelerated rate this new global trade system is being adapted to our own economic policy, the situation of third world countries struggling in the global economy might be our own future too. I hope I'm wrong.

Faizal Tajuddin went to an art school for a while but quit when he found out it was grooming advertising hacks rather than nurturing creative works.

His new joy is operating digital videocams, which he is putting to good use at the Women and Workers Independent Media and Training Centre (Wimtec) where he works. They are currently working on a short video on globalisation.