TRUST in the government is a scarce commodity; more so among the migrant population. Our country isn’t exactly friendly towards migrants, whether it is the government or the generally xenophobic society, leaving especially the undocumented populations off to fend for themselves in their day-to-day life, and now, with the Covid-19 situation.  

Things did not get better when Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin recently announced that the authorities would launch a crackdown on undocumented migrants during this total lockdown period in order to inoculate them with Covid-19 vaccines, citing our country’s vaccination programme requires a valid identification to get registered, and therefore there is no other way but to round them up for jabbing.  

Despite Khairy Jamaluddin, the coordinating minister for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, many times saying the undocumented population are included in phase 3 of the national vaccination drive, the home minister seems steadfast on his department’s decision. 

Last week Khairy said he will meet up with the home minister to work out a joint plan on this issue, but as shown by his silence since he made that statement, I suspect things didn’t pan out as we’d like to see due to the fact that the Perikatan Nasional government has a history of not being able to communicate well among different ministries, and also clearly this issue is beyond the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry’s purview.  

In the past I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside migrant workers in the construction field, and yes, you’ve guessed it, most of them are undocumented. 

When I first took up this job, I was told not to trust them as they are prone to being deceitful, they will do, or say anything to skim money off you. And I was repeatedly reminded that because of their non-existent immigration status, we locals always have the upper hand when dealing with insubordination.  

This is a sad reality where migrants, documented or not, are only treated as humans when they are “obedient” enough and favour us.  

Throughout my two years in the industry, I had the chance to hear their side of the story, on how they were conned by their “agents”; blackmailed, mistreated and exploited by their employers, the authorities and the law enforcers, and so on. Their stories vary but all lead to them distrusting the system.  

Imagine travelling to a foreign country where you were promised a proper job with documentation, only to realise after arriving that the conditions are not as advertised, and there’s no way out besides risking being undocumented for the rest of your stay because your employer holds onto your passport. 

Or imagine yourself having to keep a RM50 or RM100 handy at all times to bribe your way out of the lurking local law enforcers when you make a grocery run near your workplace. Or imagine having a broken bone but you’re too afraid to seek medical attention just because you don’t have the proper documentation.  

There’s more where that came from. This unequal power relations leads them to distrust the society, and if you ask them why not get yourself properly documented, they will probably tell you they’ve been there, done that, and yet here we are, ended up being cheated once again by their so called “agents” or middleman. Therefore, they rather lie low and continue to work until they have enough money to return to their home country and maybe, just maybe, be able to live a decent retirement.  

Just when we thought the trust deficit situation couldn’t get any worse, just two days ago, a snitch hotline initiated by the National Task Force for the public to report on the location of the undocumented surfaced, which will further destroy the little trust that they have towards the government, potentially leading to mass hysteria among the migrant population, shoving them further into hiding.

What happened to “no one is safe until everyone is”? Aren’t migrants a part of our society? From encouraging them to come forward for vaccination, the government took a sharp turn to rounding them up by force as though they were stray dogs and cats. How can one trust the government when they are contradicting themselves? 

Speaking of trust towards the authorities, I remember asking my friend quite recently who is an avid jogger: “Do you put on a mask when you slow down and walk to catch your breath?” She was at first shocked to hear me ask this question and then replied: “Don’t be silly you might die, and it’s legal to jog (adhering to certain standard operating procedure or course).” 

Of course, I knew that, perhaps I should’ve made my question clearer, which is “in your experience, did you face or hear of any harassment from the authorities despite it being legal to go jogging?” We both laughed.  

I’m sure many of you have faced the same situation before, in which even when you’re doing something perfectly legal, you’re still afraid that you might be picked upon by the law enforcers. That’s the problem because when it comes to authorities who possess much power, the common people are always left vulnerable.  

Just three days ago, there was a news report that a restaurant operator in Klang was issued a summon of RM10,000 for not reminding a customer standing in the corridor of their establishment to wear a mask. 

Assuming this incident is true as the news article claims, common sense dictates that it should not be the restaurant operator’s responsibility that a customer outside their shop chose to not wear a mask, and even if the corridor is considered as part of the restaurant premises, police could always choose to exercise discretion in dealing with these cases, maybe leave them with a warning rather than slapping a hefty fine directly. 

But it’s not the case because emergency powers grant almost absolute power to the authorities, leaving the people little room to justify themselves.  

Even us citizens can’t fully trust the system. How do we then expect the undocumented migrant community to trust us, that they will not be mistreated, and they will receive proper care and vaccination during detention and nothing un-humanitarian will happen to them? 

Remember back in April, when Khairy called for employers to help migrants register for vaccination regardless of their immigration status? I’m pretty sure no, or if there is, only a handful of undocumented migrants did or asked to be registered. If not, they will now be top of the Home Ministry’s radar.  

Right now, the government needs to have a clear and systematic approach on vaccinating the undocumented or the underprivileged bunch, encouraging them to come forward to get themselves inoculated without the fear of prosecution. 

For this to happen, the government needs to work together with all parties, including foreign embassies, international organisations such as UNHCR, civil society groups to include the undocumented in the vaccination drive, or at least come up with a separate database to manage these millions of undocumented workers, so that if they show up for vaccination, their data will not be shared with other local law enforcers. 

Amnesty must be granted during the pandemic. Ideally this could work and help us achieve herd immunity, since batches of vaccines are coming in the near future. We are potentially able to hit the 80% mark by the first quarter of 2022, if not earlier, assuming there’s less vaccine hesitancy by then. The key to this is, can the government still win back their trust.  

After all, like it or not, despite being undocumented, we Malaysians like to employ them for work that we ourselves don’t fancy, especially in some of the labour-reliant industries. 

We have long benefited from the fruits of their labour. Isn’t it only fair that we at least not criminalise them for their immigration status in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, which, I might add, in most cases they are the victims, and they did not remain undocumented by choice? – June 7, 2021.

* Kelvin Lee is a member of Agora Society. Both a dreamer and realist, he is constantly figuring out ways to balance the two. He believes that by defying the norm, one can pave the way for a better future.

* 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.