Wristbands for migrant workers raises memories of Nazism - LFL
COVID-19 | Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) is deeply concerned by the news that the government is now considering having migrant workers wear wristbands purportedly to make it easier to identify them in public.
This comes after Senior Minister (Security) Ismail Sabri Yaakob said yesterday that the PN administration is considering whether migrant workers should be made to wear wristbands to identify them in public in light of the increase in Covid-19 cases linked to them.
COVID-19 | Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) is deeply concerned by the news that the government is now considering having migrant workers wear wristbands purportedly to make it easier to identify them in public.
This comes after Senior Minister (Security) Ismail Sabri Yaakob said yesterday that the Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration is considering whether migrant workers should be made to wear wristbands to identify them in public, in light of the increase in Covid-19 cases linked to them.
"This chilling suggestion essentially means that the government is legalising or formalising prejudicial profiling under the pretext of combating Covid-19.
"Such forced identification marks upon certain segments of the population raises disturbing memories of Nazism," said LFL coordinator Zaid Malek in a statement today.
In Nazi Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe in the 1930s and 1940s, Jews were forced to wear a badge in the form of a "Yellow Star" as a means of identification. Six million Jews later died in concentration camps and segregated ghettos.
"The ramifications of migrant workers having to wear identifying wristbands is obviously and plainly catastrophic.
"Not only will they be made easy targets for harassment by the authorities, but they will also be susceptible to discrimination by the general public.
"The government is incentivising xenophobic behaviour by again perpetuating fear-mongering that migrants are the cause for rising Covid-19 infection," said Zaid (photo), not mincing his words.
Migrants cannot be blamed for a worldwide pandemic and there is no discernible or logical reason for the government to compel all migrant workers to wear wristbands, he added.
"There is no data to suggest that Covid-19 infection originates from migrant workers.
"The spread of the infection among them, as the minister himself readily admits in the same press conference, is due to the cramped living conditions that they are forced to stay in," said Zaid.
He added that the focus should then be on taking legal action against employers or agents who forced migrant workers to live in cramped houses in the first place.
"The government must take immediate and stern action against irresponsible employers/agents as they bear a heavy responsibility for the spread of Covid-19 among migrant workers.
"Equally to blame are the enforcement agencies who have allowed this situation (cramped housing) to perpetuate for years.
"The government should take necessary and immediate steps to ramp up enforcement on employers who are in breach of the newly amended Workers’ Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act 1990 instead of punishing vulnerable migrant workers who are victims of exploitation by unscrupulous employers looking to cut costs," he said.
"LFL urges the government to abandon the idea of branding migrant workers in this manner as if they were cattle and to stop making any statements or discriminatory policies that may encourage xenophobic attacks or intolerant acts against the migrant community," added Zaid.
His comments were echoed by Tenaganita executive director Glorene A Das (photo) who questioned why such a harsh culture was being cultivated by the government.
"This is clear weaponisation and criminalisation of migrant workers by the current government while instilling fear within the community.
"It cannot be tolerated and accepted. They are not criminals or animals to be tagged and there is no need for such discrimination for the communities of migrants who continue to build this country through their levies (taxes), skills and handiwork while working in the sectors that continue to be labelled as dirty, difficult and dangerous."
She said the proposed move would further stigmatise migrant workers in an already hostile environment.
"This will result in harassments and used not just by the authorities (which is very common) but also many members of public who are already attacking migrant workers due to many misconceptions surrounding the pandemic.
"Are we starting some sore of 'outcast' system by imposing the wristbands in the country?" asked Das.
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