Malaysia on alert after Little India riot in S’pore

Malaysia on alert after Little India riot in S’pore

PETALING JAYA — The police and Immigration Department have been put on alert at foreign worker enclaves across Malaysia after the riot in Singapore last week, the country’s Home Minister said in a report in The Star newspaper yesterday.

14 DECEMBER

PETALING JAYA — The police and Immigration Department have been put on alert at foreign worker enclaves across Malaysia after the riot in Singapore last week, the country’s Home Minister said in a report in The Star newspaper yesterday. Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said officers have been instructed to monitor areas where foreign workers congregate, especially those identified as potential hot spots for outbreaks of violence.The riot in Singapore’s Little India involving 400 foreign workers has triggered concern that a similar incident could happen in Malaysia due to the high number of migrant workers there. A top union leader said the disturbance was a wake-up call for Malaysia, Bernama news agency reported yesterday.

Dr Ahmad Zahid was quoted by The Star as saying: “We are always observing the activities of foreign workers and are ready to overcome any potential threat … We are also looking at workers’ quarters nationwide, so the public need not worry.”

Locations under surveillance include landmarks in the heart of the capital, such as the Kuala Lumpur City Centre, which houses the iconic Petronas Twin Towers.

Between May 30 and June 4, three Myanmar nationals were killed and several others injured in fights in various areas in Kuala Lumpur. The authorities subsequently arrested more than 1,000 Myanmar nationals during raids in Kuala Lumpur and parts of Selangor.

Dr Ahmad Zahid also said foreign workers with valid working permits would soon be issued with I-Cards with biometric and bar-code identification, which would help the authorities trace those involved in crime.

Growing discontent among foreign workers in Malaysia due to poor working conditions, discrimination and low wages is like a “time bomb”, Bernama yesterday quoted the leader of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) as saying.

MTUC President Khalid Atan said the riot in Singapore should serve as a wake-up call and the organisation called on the Human Resource Ministry to hold a tripartite meeting between the government, employers and employees to map out a strategy to prevent rioting by foreign workers.

He said the MTUC felt the government should take steps to reduce and even curtail the recruitment of foreign workers until it has a plan to address their basic needs and rights.

Dr Irene Fernandez, Executive Director of Tenaganita, a group focusing on migrants’ and women’s rights, said it was wrong to blame foreign workers for living in groups because they had no other option in many cases, and such enclaves allowed them to enjoy camaraderie and support.

“We condemn them for living near us because we say they make our neighbourhoods dirty and send our property prices down. The blame is not on them but on their employers, who place a large number of these workers in harsh and dirty living conditions because they want the cheapest way to house them,” Dr Fernandez told The Star.

To prevent tensions, she said employers and the authorities must be more accountable when dealing with the exploitation of foreign workers.

Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar told Parliament in October that there were 2,116,998 foreign workers in Malaysia with valid work permits as of June 30 this year. In addition, there were an estimated 1.3 million illegal immigrants in Malaysia as of August last year. AGENCIES