Labour rights activists and a labour lawyer allege that there is "a clear bias against foreign workers" in the implementation of laws. Their assertion was culled from experience in dealing with disputes between employers and foreign workers.

They said this at a panel discussion, 'Perspective of Foreign Workers and their Rights and Employment in Malaysia', held during a Bar Council seminar today.

Lawyer Leela Chelvarajah pointed out that. although there has been a rising number of dispute cases reported in the press, these represent the tip of the iceberg when it comes to exploitation of foreign workers.

She said most of the cases involving exploited workers tell a similar "pitiful story of victimisation" at the hands of employers with the help of recruitment agents.

Citing two cases which reached the High Court, she said both involved workers who were cheated over agreement on salaries. They were beaten and starved by their employers for protesting over their drastically lowered wages.

"The High Court rescued them from a desperate and helpless situation and found that the local employer, the local middleman and foreign agent had all conspired to defraud these innocent workers who had been 'cheated, degraded and denied food and basic necessities'," she said quoting the court's judgement.

"There are many more cases but these go unreported because the foreign workers fear repercussions from the employers."

In one case, she said the workers succumbed saying that they "could not stand the hunger" while in another case, at least one worker attempted suicide in desperation.

To make things worse for the workers, Leela said, neither local law enforcement authorities nor foreign diplomatic representatives have been willing to take employers to account for their misdeeds.

"One diplomatic mission says it has 300 complaints from its nationals but not one has been pursued. Embassies and high commissions are hesitant to intervene in private contracts of employment which could throw up potential dispute about interpretation of Malaysia law - a forbidden territory for diplomatic missions," she said.

Conflicting laws

Another speaker, Tenaganita director Irene Fernandez said in several cases handled by her organisation, workers have been further victimised when enforcement authorities arrested and charged workers for being undocumented although this was not their fault.

She said this problem is largely due to immigration officials denying visas to foreign workers who are awaiting hearings that are pending before the Industrial Court.

"The policy of the immigration department has been to issue only three-month passes. After that, the worker requires a local sponsor who can take total care of his needs until his case is settled. Which Malaysian is willing to do that?" she asked.

Fernandez said that attempts by Tenaganita to raise the matter with Immigration Department director-general Mohd Jamal Kamdi received instead a response that those without sponsors should await their hearings in detention camps.

"Why should they be made to suffer further in detention camps? The Employment Act may give the right to redress but workers are still powerless because of the Immigration Act," she said.

Far from protecting the rights of the workers, Fernandez said the Immigration Act is a punitive and draconian law which saw more than 9,000 undocumented workers whipped last year and more than 45,000 foreign nationals languishing in prisons across the country.

"It is also a tool for torture, discrimination, criminalisation of victims and denial of basic rights," she asserted.

Alleged corruption

Mohideen Abdul Kader, the legal adviser to the Consumers Association of Penang, said migrant workers are offered protection under local laws but only to a limited extent.

Receiving governments like Malaysia have to crack down on unscrupulous employers and recruiting agents who make false promises to workers prior to their arrival here.

In addition, Mohideen said that both sending and receiving governments must have the resolve to break the "web of corruption" surrounding foreign labour recruitment.

"Nothing will work without political will on the part of both governments to set up clear terms of employment. The machinery is not working now because of corruption and abuse of power by officials on both sides," he alleged.

Former Philippines ambassador to Malaysia Jose S Brillantes - currently serving the Philippines government as Deputy Minister for Migrant Workers Affairs - gave an overview of extensive laws enacted in the Philippines to protect its overseas workers.

He said one of the aims of his government is to encourage more countries to accede to the United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of the Families, an instrument which came into force last July.

"Official figures place the number of Filipinos in Malaysia as 288,000 but other estimates place the figure closer to 500,000 or 600,000 to include the illegal migrants in Sabah," he said.

Brillantes said this remains a sensitive issue between Kuala Lumpur and Manila due to the contrast between the highly developed Philippine laws to protect its nationals and the lack thereof in Malaysian legislation.

"We are now finalising a memorandum of understanding with Malaysia. We are close to the stage where we can meet to thresh out the details. It is time consuming because (Manila) cannot deviate too much from practices enshrined in the Philippine legislation," he said.

Suggestions from participants at the seminar on ways to address exploitation of workers include a recommendation that the government implements a single standard agreement with sending countries to prevent discrimination against workers from poorer countries whose governments lack bargaining power.

They said the government should also be transparent over bilateral labour agreements so as to enable civil society groups and trade unions to scrutinise employment terms negotiated.