Struggling here, Malaysian grads look to illegal blue-collar jobs abroad

Yasmin Ramlan Yasmin Ramlan Updated 6 years ago · Published on 14 Sep 2017 7:00AM · 5 Comments

Amirul has no regrets taking on a job as a factory operator where he stays at a rent-free workers’ hostel and gets paid £60 (RM330) a day. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Hasnoor Hussain, September 14, 2017.

FRUSTRATED that he could not save anything, Amirul left his job as a business development executive at an oil-and-gas company in Kuala Lumpur last year to search for work illegally in the United Kingdom.

Almost a year on, the 27-year-old said he has no regrets taking on a job as a factory operator where he stays at a rent-free workers’ hostel and gets paid £60 (RM330) a day and still gets to send home at least RM1,000 a month to his mother.

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Comments

  • Malaysian undergrads future employment are becoming a uber/grab driver or open up own small business. Starting fresh salary is the same 10 years ago and the annual incrememt is the lowest in Sea and certain part of the region. How can a undergrad with a RM1800 survive in KL. High rental, high cost of living for foods and travelling expenses + PTPTN repayment . Yhe current market pay is not rational and this is why unemployed graduates are really frustrated. We will see also employers discrimination in jobs vacancy such as if you cannot a specific language, you cant even apply for the job.

    Posted 6 years ago by Jimmy Jimmy

  • Well, if Najib gets US Visa waiver program, then they can do the same in the US but Trump will deport them..

    Posted 6 years ago by Bigjoe Lam

  • So, even with the NEP, JPA, MARA, UiTM, ASN, housing discounts, ABC until XYZ, bumis STILL cannot survive? Well, at least this bunch has some initiative to feed themselves instead of blaming others or marrying themselves off to rich spouses.

    Posted 6 years ago by Chin Tu Lan

  • I do feel sorry for these people......

    The promise of ketuanan has left them with nothing but an illegal existence in a foreign country....

    Meanwhile, my cousin, who was a nobody in Malaysia, has found work in the IT industry in Canada and his wife is in the medical field....

    My friend, who was struggling in Malaysia, has been offered Australian citizenship because of his expertise in his field and his wife just goyang kaki at home because he is being paid a huge sum.....

    I know of another guy from Ipoh, who moved to Australia and he is now an important man in PriceWaterhouseCoopers helping them develop a new segment of the business.....

    And the stories keep coming....

    Those who are severely disadvantaged and discriminated against in Malaysia, find success and glory overseas.....

    Those who have every advantage given to them in Malaysia, end up overseas as illegal migrants, unable to compete, unable to get jobs in their field of "expertise" ....

    When will the Melayus figure out that they have been lied to and cheated by UMNO/BN?...

    Posted 6 years ago by Musa Ng

  • Our human resource model is flawed. We have so many foreign workers when these jobs could be taken up by locals, yet they prefer to be illegal workers overseas. You go to UK, US or Australia, most of the waiters/waitresses probably have degrees, I even met one in Melbourne doing her doctorate in a cafe there. But the salary have to be adjusted upwards. If more than 50% of the current foreign workers can be replaced by locals, we would have save so much foreign exchange and less social problem. I can understand the plantation companies and factories wanting foreign workers to keep the costs low but other sectors do not need to rely on foreign workers. In Penang, the hawkers have to be locals while the helpers can be foreign.Same should be apply in restaurants to keep semi-skilled jobs for locals.
    Our graduates need to re-look and re-adjust themselves as not everybody will get into the Government departments or ministries anymore. Minimum salary must be adjusted upwards, despite many employers saying they cant survive.Then pay more but expect more than the employees and if they are not fast and efficient, remove them but reward those who do work hard and fast.
    The reliance on foreign workers skewed the profitability of many companies, operation wise they are not really making money but only making money by giving less to what the employees deserve or relying on subsidies.In the long run, they won't stay competitive globally.

    Posted 6 years ago by Can Lim