FACTORS THAT MOTIVATE FOREIGN WORKERS MIGRATE TO MALAYSIA
Malaysia is one of the developed countries in the world. People with different races live in peace and harmony, Malaysia is seen as a country that is safe to live in it. Thanks to our leader who makes this all happens. This attracts not only tourist but also foreign worker. We can see many foreigners from around the world have come to work in Malaysia, either legally or illegally. They prefer Malaysia in the opportunity in making money because of its stability in politics and safety. There are few reasons why Malaysia preferred by the foreign workers, there are; 1. Governme Government nt Poli! Poli! " e##en e##enti$l ti$l %or %or eono eonomi mi &evelo' &evelo'ment ment
In achieving develop country, Malaysia need high skilled manpower in so the country needs the highly skilled educated epatriates in the particular field from the other developed countries. Their arrival here is at the re!uest of a company on its own in addition to the invitation by the government to further enhance travel as well as the development of an industry. In additio addition n to using using their their epert epertise ise for the developme development nt of the country country,, the government also hoped that they can guide and transferring their skills and knowledge to Malaysians worker for the country"s development in the future. #or eample, the $apanese transfer their manufacturing technology in automotive industries. %s a result, we are now producing our own cars as we have the knowledge and epertise to do so &'iti (abilah, )*+*. In the long term condition, this situation finally can epand the Malaysia economic and not over depends on other country. (. O'' O''or ort)n t)niti itie# e# on lo lo$l $l re*e re*etio tion n
-ecently most of the Malaysia likes to choose obs. They are more interested in administration. %/i/ah 0assim &+112 said that there is tendency among Malaysian to shun manual obs which they consider lowly3paid, dirty, demeaning and often dangerous without prospect for promotions. 'hamsuddin 4ardin, eecutive director of the Malaysian 5mployers #ederation said that the foreign workers do the three 6 obs that Malaysian doesn7t want 3 dirty, dangerous dangerous and difficult. They They are are not not inte interes rested ted to work work in low3c low3clas lasss secto sectorr such such as manu manufac factu turi ring ng,, plantations and construction. -eport by the Malaysian Trades 8nion 9ongress &)**:
stated that locals are not keen to work< as domestic helpers, restaurant waiters and cleaners with cleaning contractors, due to the long hours and low wages, further supporting the argument that locals simply do not want to get dirty, dangerous and difficult obs. 9he =ashim &)**1 noted that the manufacturing sector most abounded accept unskilled foreign workers, followed by the plantation sector. The table below shows a breakdown of the number of foreign workers according to employment sectors.
Setor M$n)%$t)rin0 Pl$nt$tion Con#tr)tion Servie# A0ri)lt)re Servie#
(++, (o. ?):,@A? 2B2,2A2 )A),A2* )*+,)*2 +?),22: 2*@,212
Tot$l
+,1+2,?+2
> 22 +: +B ++ : +? +*
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*
:
> 2A +A +B +* : +B
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+**
),*:@,?+2
> 2@ +A +B +* ++ +2
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> 2? +? +) +* +* +?
+**
+,@+?+++
+**
Table C 6istribution of foreign labourers & Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2010.
%ccording to the table; we can see that the manufacturing and plantation sectors contribute the largest number of foreign workers compared to other sectors. %ccording to the 5conomic -eport )*+*D)*++ by the #inance Ministry, there were +.: million registered foreign workers in Malaysia, 2:.)> were employed in the manufacturing sector, +?> in the construction and +B.)> in the plantation sectors. Eoungster and the unemployed tend to avoid applying obs in those sectors. They consider that work in those sectors was so ehausted and the wages that they will have earned are not commensurate with the work they have to do. %minudin F 8sha &)**:, finds that the refusal of the local community to work in the plantation sector as the ob uninteresting, dirty and not on par with their level of education. 8ndoubtedly there are Malaysians who are working in the fields, but their numbers are relatively small compared with foreign labours. 9hances are they"ve had to work in the field is because they does not have opportunities in other obs that they like and they have to earn a living for themselves and their families 2. Te %orei0n 2or3er# $ttit)&e
'ome of the reasons why most of the foreigners work in Malaysia are because of the attitude of employers who prefer hiring foreigners compared to Malaysians. Wages for foreign workers are cheaper than Malaysian worker as added other benefit according to Gabour Gaw. %ccording to MT89 secretary3general %bdul =alim Mansor, he said that Malaysian employers generally like to hire unskilled foreign labour because they are cheaper < &The 'tar, )? #eb )*+2 The attitudes of the foreign workers more disciplined also attract more employers to use their services. #oreign workers willing to work overtime as their target working outside from their native land is to accumulate money to be send to family. %minudin F 8sha &)**: stated, it is found that these employers are more incline in hiring foreigners due to discipline, productivity, working hours, obeying orders, wages and difficulty in securing locals in certain sectors.
4. 5etter *o6# $n& $ i0er '$!
Most of the foreigners who came to work in Malaysia are from the lower income groups in their home country. They came here is to look for work as a result of unemployment problems they face in their country. %lthough their pay rate are lower, but when converted into the currency of their country of origin, the value of the money they earn relatively high and they can accommodate their family lives there.
%ccording 9he =ashim &)**1, those who come to work in this country tend not to have a ob in their home country or if there are even obs at their country when the pay are lower than they received in Malaysia. %lthough there is no empirical evidence to support the statement, but is in accordance with the findings made by a leading economist '.M. Todaro. Todaro said that the main reason for labour was moved from the place of origin to the point is the difference rate of pay. Wage rates in a direction are higher than the rate of pay in the place of origin. The living standards and wage rates in the home country are the most vital factors influencing local workers to migrate to other developed countries in order to earn higher wages &Wells, +11?.
PRO5LEMS ENCO7NTERE8 AS A RES7LT OF THE 8EPEN8ENCE ON FOREIGN WORKERS
The dependence on foreign workers brings positive and negative effects to the country in particular. The arrival of foreign workers to be recogni/ed a lot of benefit to the development of our country. Their presence could solve the problem of shortage of manpower faced in some occupational sectors. They also have helped the government to cover the shortage of skilled manpower by their knowledge and skills. In terms of social perspective, negative effects seen greatly influenced with the increasing variety of negative issues such as the increase in the crime rate. In terms of the country"s economy on the other hand, if we too depending to foreign workers, Malaysia face high unemployment among its people, this is because with the attitude of employers prefer to hire foreign workers as compared with local workers. Hver3dependence on foreign workers will result in an outflow of currency, decline in productivity performance, and compromise social balance and the economy &=am/ah, 9hen, Gincoln F 'hu, )*+). If the arrival of foreign workers is not controlled by the government, it will cause an imbalance between local workers and foreign workers. 1. 9)$ntit! more t$n :)$lit!.
Most of the foreign workers ust want to find the etra money where the employer will usually pay more wages if the production eceeds the !uota given. This caused most goods produced by a factory is not up to the standards. Malaysian Trades 8nion 9ongress said that unskilled foreign labour in our workforce could be effecting negatively to the productivity levels. 5ugene Tan &)*+* is a law Professor at the 'ingapore Management 8niversity and eplains the panel7s rationale, "I think there is a concern now as highlighted by the economic strategies committee, oer dependence on cheap foreign workers has resulted on a lowering of productiity within Singapore!s work force #he goernment will try and re calibrate the supply and try to manage the business sectors demand for foreign workers So long as foreign workers are easily aailable the economic thinking is that companies will be less incentiised to come up with innoatie ways of going about their business, of coming up with more productie ways of doing business$
"%hen Singaporean companies hire cheap foreign workers the increase in output is not due to better manufacturing processes, a better way of going about doing business it is really more about perspiration rather than inspiration If companies can automate, if companies can bring in better skilled workers then we could see output increasing not &ust incrementally but the hope is that output would then increase perhaps double or three fold" (. Forei0n 2or3er# 2ill 6e more in &em$n&.
In )**1, Malaysia has reali/ed by free/ing delivery of foreign workers to Malaysia by Indonesia. They stated that their citi/ens working in the country, especially from non3 professionals have been treated badly and treated unfair. They also stated that the salaries received by the people they are not commensurate with the burden of work that have to they do. Therefore, the Indonesian government has taken drastic action to free/e the delivery of their nationals to work here. They claimed that their people, especially those working as domestic servants paid with a minimum salary of -M:** for one task only. This claim does not make sense and see bias because it"s more profitable to foreign maid compared to the employers. 'alary rates deemed claimed is too lucrative for the maid does not have to pay rent, bills and daily epenses because all of that has been borne by their employers. Mana Ismail said, although the conditions stated Director 'eneral of (abor )lacement *onstruction Diision, Ministry of (abour and #ransmigrasi Indonesia, Dr +eyna sman, shall be fair, but it doesn!t make sense, it has been reported as a result of the negotiations -oint Special #ask .orce /-#. between the 'oernment of Indonesia and Malaysia #he results of the consultation, among others, the Indonesian maid deliery setting will follow their respectie skills in four specific areas, cooking, parenting a baby, taking care of elderly people and managing the house &4erita =arian Hnline, +1 March )*+) This situation has forced the government to implement the minimum wage to employees who work in the private sector, including foreign workers. The Prime Minister, 6atuk 'eri (aib -a/ak announced a minimum wage for the private sector on 2* %pril )*+) and ga/etted on $uly +? )*+). Hrder of the minimum wage in force on $anuary +, )*+2 and the rate will be reviewed every two years. 5nforcement of the implementation of the mandatory minimum wage is the minimum wage workers with
private Peninsula set 1** and :** in 'abah, 'arawak and Gabuan. In addition to benefit the local workforce in the country, the implementation of the minimum wage will also be able to reduce the country"s dependency on foreign energy. Minister of =uman -esources, 6atuk 'eri 6r ' 'ubramaniam said this is because the high minimum wage rates also mean increasing cost of foreign recruitment by employers because they had to pay levies and other charges. "Such a situation directly will force employers to reduce their foreign staff and open public employment to local workers," &'inar =arian, *B May )*+)
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