A HOTLINE to help migrant workers and refugees is in meltdown after Malaysia imposed the movement-control order to fight the coronavirus, which has so far infected more than 5,000 people.

As the MCO enters its third phase this week, civil society group Tenaganita, which manages the hotline, expects to be flooded with even more calls.

These are calls from migrant workers abandoned by their Malaysian employers and are pleading for food.

Foreign maids feeling unsafe after days of being locked up with their employers’ families have also called.

Yet these cases are only the tip of the iceberg as not all three million foreign workers know of Tenaganita, said its executive director, Glorene A. Das.

Once the recession hits and companies are forced to shed workers permanently, Malaysia will be staring at a million-strong population of hungry, angry and desperate individuals, said Tenaganita and unions helping them.

“Migrants are bearing the brunt of this crisis. There is no work, they can’t go home and there is little government support for them,” said Glorene.

The fear is that these foreign workers will then have to compete with locals who have also lost their jobs for limited income opportunities during the recession, she said.

“Will there be jobs for them after MCO? Between a foreign migrant and local worker, how will companies choose?

“Will the local workers be able to take on 3D (dirty, dangerous and difficult) jobs that were being done by migrant workers?”

Putrajaya must be prepared to send jobless foreigners home, whether they are documented or undocumented, or work with the private sector to ensure that they continue to earn an income, said the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC).

“MTUC has proposed to the government and to employers to find alternative ways to restart certain industries while ensuring that they abide by strict health procedures,” said MTUC president Abdul Halim Mansor.

“If this cannot be done, then the government and employers, with the cooperation of foreign missions, must send them home,” Halim told The Malaysian Insight.

“These foreign workers are trapped. They have no income. They have little food and they risk being kicked out of their hostels as they cannot pay the rent.”

Contingency plans

A March 2019 World Bank study estimated that in 2017, the total number of foreign workers in Malaysia ranged from 2.96 million to 3.26 million.

Of these, the number of “irregular” or undocumented migrant workers was between 1.23 million and 1.46 million.

According to the Malaysian Employers’ Federation (MEF), companies bringing in foreigners are also responsible for sending them back if they are unable to provide them with work.

Legally, foreigners on a company’s payroll must be sent home first before the firm can retrench Malaysian staff, said MEF executive director Shamsudin Bardan.

“During the 1998 financial crisis, the government sent home about 800,000 foreign workers,” Shamsudin told The Malaysian Insight.

“As of March, local companies have sent back between 3,500 and 4,000 foreigners but this was due to the general economic slowdown and not because of the MCO and the coronavirus.”

MEF is unable to estimate yet whether there will be massive lay-offs as it depends on how long the MCO lasts and how quickly businesses can recover after the lockdown.

The Perikatan Nasional government has pledged RM260 billion to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) weather the shutdown in commerce and trade during the MCO.

The funds are meant to help SMEs, which employ more than 60% of workers, both local and foreign, maintain their cash flow and pay their overheads during the MCO and the first few months after it.

The package includes an improved wage-subsidy plan to help SMEs compensate some 4.8 million workers.

Despite this aid, the SME Association expects the lack of business to force about 20% of firms to close shop and shed their workers.

The Malaysian Institute of Economic Research estimates that about 2.4 million out of about 14 million workers could be retrenched because of the pandemic.

About 67% of these jobs are unskilled, where most foreign workers in the country are concentrated.

As much as possible, firms which hire foreigners don’t want to send them back as they have already invested about RM10,000 per head to bring them here in the first place, said Shamsudin.

“This is why the MEF suggested we relax some of the restrictions and re-open certain industries, especially those which are export-oriented but we ensure that they maintain strict social distancing.

“Employers will also be open to carrying out mass antibody testing as suggested by the former health minister to identify those who can work.”

As a contingency, Tenaganita suggested that the government start stockpiling essential food to feed the jobless after the MCO.

The MCO was enforced on March 18 to break the chain of Covid-19 infections. As of yesterday, 5,182 people have been infected with 84 deaths reported. The third phase of the MCO is set to end on April 28. – April 17, 2020.