MIGRANT workers, refugees, asylum seekers and foreign spouses should not be excluded from receiving jabs under the Covid-19 vaccination programme, said the Migrant Workers’ Right to Redress Coalition (MWR2R).

Tenaganita, a group in this coalition, said no one should be excluded from the programme on any basis.

“As the government firms up its plan for the Covid-19 vaccination programme, we urge that no one in Malaysia be excluded,” said Tenaganita executive director Glorene Das in a virtual press conference on migrant workers issues.

“We urge the government to make sure the circumstances of every person are considered. This includes the situation facing documented and undocumented workers, domestic workers, the refugee communities, foreign spouses, the stateless and others.

“If we do not do this, there will be a serious gap in the ability of the vaccination effort to make the sort of difference to the pandemic for which many people are hoping.”

Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said last week that Malaysia is on track to receive its Covid-19 vaccine supply next month.

Putrajaya has committed RM2.05 billion (US$504 million) for the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines to inoculate 82.8% of the population.

The cost includes the agreements inked with Covax, Pfizer and AstraZeneca along with three other deals that are still being finalised.

The MWR2R coalition said there has been a lack of respect shown by the government as well as the employers and agents to foreign workers, including to the women and children.

It added the Covid-19 has become an excuse for many employers and agents to increase their arbitrary use and treatment of foreign workers, and for Immigration to continue to make arbitrary decisions regarding peoples’ status and future.

“We are asking for a meeting with the Ministries of Home Affairs, Human Resources and Health to discuss their plan of action and we urge the government to institutionalise meetings between government agencies and civil society organisations for effective communication in the interest and wellbeing of communities,” the coalition said.

“We also want the government to ensure that adequate resources are provided to the Labour Office to allow them to effectively carry out their monitoring and enforcement of conditions at the workplaces.

“Allow independent access to detention centres and other places of detention, to ensure that all processes and conditions within these centres are properly followed.

“Provide up-to-date data on the number of raids being conducted, the number of people detained, the number of people charged, what happens to them, and how many employers have been charged,” the group said.

In July 2020, the 20-minute Al Jazeera documentary Locked Up in Malaysia’s Lockdown alleged the government discriminated against illegal immigrants in Malaysia’s attempt to prevent the spread of Covid-19. 

The documentary showed raids at foreign workers’ residences in Kuala Lumpur where women and children were also arrested.

Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin defended the raids during the movement-control order, telling Al-Jazeera that “Malaysians come first”.

He refuted the international news outlet’s report that Malaysia discriminated against illegal immigrants during the Covid-19 pandemic. – January 25, 2021