TWELVE-YEAR-OLD Uto worked 10 hours a day with his father on a small plantation in Tawau, Sabah, hoisting fruits so heavy his aching muscles kept him awake at night.

One day he sneaked off to visit his favourite aunt in a nearby village. Uto was caught by the authorities. Lacking a passport, he was carted off to a crowded detention centre.  

He was held for a month.

Uto is one of many child workers in Sabah who grow up living in fear of separation from their families.

The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) estimated 80,000 children of illegal migrants, mostly from Indonesia and the Philippines, are living on their own in Sabah.

“Some rights groups say the true number could be nearly double that,” Suhakam commissioner Jerald Joseph told The Malaysian Insight.

He said the Suhakam Sabah office has received many complaints about children in situations like Uto’s.

Suhakam data showed the commission received 45 complaints in 2019 on children detainees in detention centres, 22 complaints in 2020, and 11 so far this year.

Jerald said these children tried to remain invisible to avoid attracting the police and Immigration authorities, travelling alone on smugglers’ routes.

Some keep backpacks with supplies ready in case they need to quickly flee into the jungle to avoid raids.

“Many never leave their guarded plantations, some in places so remote that workers must climb hills to search for a phone signal. And for those who dare to go out, trouble can come quickly,” said Jerald.

Suhakam said Sabah relied almost entirely on foreign workers to fill its labour shortage, especially on the oil palm plantations.

These foreign workers have been living on the same plantations for generations, creating a ready-made workforce for the employers.

“When one harvester retires or dies, another in the family takes over to hold onto company-subsidised housing, which often is a dilapidated shack with no running water and limited electricity.

“Many children do not have the option to ever leave. They were born on plantations, work there and sometimes die there.

“Overgrown headstones and crosses marking graves in crude cemeteries are found on some plantations near the towering palm trees,” Jerald said.

Denial of basic rights

Without a birth certificate, the children are essentially stateless and denied access to basic rights such as education and medical care.

And with no path to citizenship, they are at high risk of exploitation.

“Girls working on remote plantations are vulnerable to sexual abuse, and teen pregnancies and marriages are common.

“Many young palm oil workers also have little understanding about reproductive health,” Jerald said.

He added that experts had said poor nutrition and daily exposure to toxic chemicals are undermining child labourers’ health and development.

“Many plantations in Sabah have their basic clinics, but access may be available only to full-time workers.

“Migrant children often are too scared to seek medical help in villages or cities, even in life-threatening emergencies,” he said.

In June, the US Department of Labor announced the availability of US$5 million in grants to combat child and forced labour abuses in Malaysia’s palm oil and garment industries.

This came after three Malaysian companies – Top Glove Corp Bhd, Sime Darby Plantation and FGV Holdings – were slapped with import bans by the United States over claims of using forced labour .

The companies denied the allegations. Top Glove, the world’s largest glove producer, said it was making “significant improvement” in addressing the issues.

Following the allegations, Top Gloves’ earnings were reported to be affected.

Palm oil buyers had also stopped purchasing from the companies.

Former human resources minister M. Saravanan in July said the government would prioritise addressing forced labour in the country.

He said this following the 2021 US State Department report on human trafficking, in which Malaysia was downgraded to the bottom ranks.

Saravanan added the ministry was working with the International Labour Organization to develop a National Action Plan on forced labour and child labour.

The plan was expected to be finalised and launched in the fourth quarter. – August 27, 2021.