Many policy steps have been taken regarding the foreign workers being employed in Malaysia, for monitoring their employment in sectors of the economy facing the need for them, and to keeping illegal foreign workers from breaking in. These include the "Foreign Worker Rationalization Program" for helping adjust illegal workers, some amendments to the Immigration Act, 1977 as well as adding an annual levy on foreign laborers. Malaysian authorities also signed many Memorandums of Understanding with the various labor exporting countries for managing legal recruitment of foreign workers. For the time being Malaysia's list of countries which become the source of these foreign workers include the developing countries like Indonesia, Nepal, Bangladesh, India and Myanmar.
Possible recruiters for foreign workers include export-oriented manufacturers, who manufacture with the target of providing approximately fifty per-cent of their produce for export market. Manufacturers with businesses focused on domestics also can hire foreign workers, but after fulfilling certain conditions. Foreign workers are free to find in a variety of industries in the services sector, like laundry and cleaning, charity houses, hotels, golf clubs, resorts and the like.
The Malaysia My Second Home program, which is also famous as the MM2H, is an scheme introduced by the Government of Malaysia for catering to the placement of international people. Its aim is to adjust for the foreigners to live in Malaysia on long-stay visas amounting for up to ten years. There are some financial and medical conditions that the applicants must meet in order to be eligible as deserving to be considered for this program. Once successful, the foreigners are given the freedom of entering and leaving Malaysia with almost no restrictions on their stay and movements. Not only this, there are other incentives meant to make their stay in Malaysia more comfortable, though varying restrictions may be applicable.
TalentCorp, another smart program from the Malaysian authorities is aimed to keep creating new initiatives which will attract world's top talent inwards, in order to cater the talented workforce needs of the economy's key sectors. This is meant for the eventual uplifting of the Malaysian economy. For Malaysia to become a destination for top talent, TalentCorp will drive initiatives based on three Strategic Thrusts: that are optimising talent in Malaysia, attracting and facilitating the incoming global talent, and creating networks of the top talent. TalentCorp's scope and initiatives will transition over the period till 2020.
Phase one, covering TalentCorp's beginning to 2015, focuses on driving catalytic talent interventions and refining policies to address immediate critical skills gaps and talent shortages. For the next phase (2016 - 2020), a greater emphasis is planned for operationalizing the interventions as they become institutionalised. This will mean working towards a greater integrated approach of national talent management to be adopted in the country.
In spite of the tight immigration control and policies foreign immigrants make up a large part of the workforce in Malaysia. There is much more foreign unskilled labour workforce than there are highly skilled professional expatriates' in Malaysia. Consequently, the government of this country has planned to reduce the number of low-skilled foreign workers by approximately ten to twenty per-cent as this seems must in order to become a prosperous economy nearest in the future.
In making it easier to enter Malaysia legally, the government also tries to make it harder to enter Malaysia illegally. Some steps include increasing the number and frequency of border patrols, punishing employers who employ irregular migrants, fining and punishing irregular migrants, detaining them under abusive conditions in detention camps and deporting them. In the process, victims of forced migration such as refugees and trafficked victims, face a fate similar to or worse than that experienced by irregular economic migrants.
Implications of foreign immigrant workers on the economy in Malaysia; In what ways has it contributed to the growth of the Malaysian economy, how is the presence of foreign immigrant workers seen as an opportunity for the recipient country (Malaysia), what are the problems Malaysia is facing due to the presence of the large foreign immigrant workforce in the country (threat).
It is undeniable that foreign workers have contributed to the economic growth of the country, in particular by alleviating labor shortages in selected sectors of the economy. However, their presence has also put stress on public amenities and services, such as the provision of public services, health and education facilities. Remittances by foreign workers have also increased steadily as reflected in the outflow of the current transfers in the country's balance of payments.
Expatriates, who are largely professionals and highly skilled workers, account for about 3% of the foreign workers in the country. The majority of them are employed in the manufacturing, petroleum, construction and services sectors, such as health, education and ICT related industries. Currently, there are about 700 expatriates employed in the Multimedia Super Corridor. Of this total, 70% of them are software developers, system analysts, web designers and system engineers. Another 20% hold higher management posts while the remainders are employed as support staff. As at July 2004, there are 711 expatriates employed in public hospitals, comprising 478 medical officers and 233 medical specialists. These highly skilled professionals play an invaluable role in enhancing national productivity and competitiveness. They bring with them knowledge, skill and experience which synergise with local talents and enrich the Malaysian labour force.
ASSOCIATED PROBLEMS IN HIRING FOREIGN WORKERS
The hiring of foreign workers contributed positively to Malaysia's economic development. However, their presence is often accompanied by a number of negative consequences. As pointed out by many, employment of such workers leads to a loss in revenue through their remittances, delays automation and mechanisation, suppresses local pay, imposes a heavy toll on social amenities and social services, reintroduces diseases once under control in Malaysia, a threat to security, etc. These problems have their roots in the expanding immigrant population especially the illegals among them.
The Expanding Immigrant Population
In the Population Census 1991, foreigners account for 4.4% of the Malaysian population of over 18.3 million. By 2000, the alien population increased to over 1.384 million or 5.9%. The writer believes that census figures on foreign nationals are understated as it is well known that, many of the illegals residing in the country at the time of the census, refrained from enumeration for fear of being identified and deported.
Foreign nationals are spread out unevenly between the various states in Malaysia with the smallest number in Perlis and the largest in Sabah. In 1991, about 57.7% of all foreigners in Malaysia were found in Sabah, and in 2000, while the number remains high the percentage had declined to 44.4% forming about 24% of the state population. Of the constituent states in the Peninsula, Selangor has the highest number in 2000, followed by Johor and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. In Sarawak, the foreign population appears to have expanded almost four times from around 18,000 in 1991 to over 62,000 in 2000.
Illegal Immigrants
In general, apart from tourists who are in Malaysia on short-term basis, foreign nationals in Malaysia can be grouped into several categories - the foreign workers (unskilled/ semi-skilled foreign workers and the expatriates); the asylum seekers and refugees; students and illegal immigrants. In general discourse illegal immigrants are a generic term to refer to various categories of aliens who have committed legal infractions such as:
Undocumented aliens who have entered the country without proper travel documents and outside authorised port of entry, Contract defaulters - foreign workers who have changed their work and employers,
Over-stayers, who may or not be in the workforce,
Visa abusers, such as those entering Malaysia on student or tourist visas engaged in employment,
