Commentary by Mustafa K. Anuar

THE Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent movement-control order (MCO) have obviously impacted everyone in Malaysia, including workers from foreign lands.

Migrant workers in Malaysia, according to rights advocacy group Tenaganita, have been left in the lurch by employers ever since the MCO was enforced.

What is alarming is that these workers are reportedly abandoned without being given wages that would have enabled them to buy food and other basic necessities, such as medicine.

Complaints of wage payment defaults by employers mainly come from workers in the manufacturing, construction, oil palm plantation and vegetable farm sectors, where work ceases with the implementation of the MCO.

Worse, many of them, including the penniless who are daily-waged, do not dare to venture out of their cramped dwellings to get food distributed freely by civil societies for fear of being arrested by the authorities.

These workers, numbering nearly 2 million, originate from 15 countries, including Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, India, the Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam, and have come to this country to seek employment, usually in low-skilled jobs.

Starvation among them, partly as a result of irresponsibility on the part of some employers, is not only appalling in human terms, but could also make them easily vulnerable to the deadly virus.

And yet in normal times, these are the very workers who are much sought after for their grit, stamina, docility, physical strength and, of course, relatively cheap labour.

These are the workers who, for instance, carry out death-defying feats like working on tall scaffolding of a planned skyscraper under the scorching sun.

New housing estates would not have materialised had there not been the migrant workers who had tirelessly laid out the bricks of houses.

And thanks to these workers who help in the production of palm oil in our plantations across the country, the product of which becomes one of the country’s major income earners.

In other words, they are in many ways a contributory factor to the country’s rapid expansion of the manufacturing sector, urbanisation and socio-economic progress in general.

We should also be mindful that quite often these workers work in a way that risks their health and safety – and therefore, affecting the future of their loved ones – primarily because certain employers knowingly flout safety rules and cut corners.

It is imperative that the recalcitrant employers be made accountable by the authorities concerned so as to ensure that the rights of these migrant workers (particularly the wages that are rightfully theirs) as well as health are well-protected.

But more than that, it is hoped that on humanitarian grounds the government would include these migrant workers in its endeavour to help marginalised groups in the country who are badly affected under present circumstances, especially when the MCO period could possibly be extended further.

To be sure, these workers, who are at times convenient objects of exploitation, are economically vulnerable, and have nowhere to go.

While it is appreciated that civil society groups, such as Tenaganita, Penang Stop Human Trafficking Campaign, Aspire Penang and Penang Working Group, are doing their bit to help alleviate the economic hardships of the migrant workers in this trying time, government intervention in this regard is indeed crucial.

The migrant workers deserve more than our sympathies. They need concrete help. – April 3, 2020.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.