Immigration Laws: February, 2002 - Number #18

Malaysia. Malaysia reported that it had 789,120 foreign workers on September 1, 2001, including 291,448 in manufacturing; 215,887 on plantations; 161,617 maids; 64,328 in construction; and 55,519 in services. These legal foreign workers will be issued forgery-proof smart cards beginning March 2002 that include the worker's photograph and the name and address of the Malaysian employer.

The government estimated that there were another 450,000 unauthorized foreign workers, 70 percent Indonesians and 10 percent Burmese, and that 10,000 a month would be removed in 2002. In 2001, some158,486 illegal migrants were removed. Those apprehended are held in detention camps, and some 2,000 detainees rioted and set fire to a detention center in southern Malaysia in mid-January 2002.

The government is aiming for "zero-entry" of unauthorized foreigners in 2002, tightening coastal security in the narrow Straits of Malacca and along the northern Penang coast line. It also announced that 44,000 employees would be involved in monitoring Malaysian borders to prevent the return of unauthorized migrants.

Thailand. Thailand registered 559,541 foreign workers in September-October 2001, which gives them the right to work as well as access to medical facilities and social services. Some 447,000 of those registered were Burmese; Thai authorities estimated that another 100,000 Burmese did not register.

In addition, there are 108,584 members of Burmese ethnic minorities living in 11 camps in Thailand, including 89,564 Karen. In January 2002, Burma agreed to accept the return of these "displaced Burmese;" a reception center is to be established opposite Mae Sot in the Thai province of Tak. Thai authorities forcibly closed a major camp for Myanmar dissidents in December 2001.

Citing increased crime, Thailand stopped giving 30-day visas to nationals of 81 countries, mostly in Africa, South Asia and the Caribbean.

Thailand, with a population of 63.1 million, has a labor force of 34.2 million in Fall 2001, and an unemployment rate of 2.4 percent in November 2001 (820,000). Unemployment rates are highest in Bangkok and the south, where foreign workers are concentrated. The Employment Department expects 350,000 unemployed workers to request jobs in 2002, and expects to place 157,000 in jobs.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra won a landslide victory in January 2001, and took office in February 2001. He has made stabilizing agriculture one of his top priorities. Rice is the major crop, covering 67 million rai and producing 24 million tons in 2001-02; over half of all Thai farmers grow rice, and about seven million tons a year are exported.

Cambodia. Cambodians go to the polls on February 3, 2002 to elect leaders of the country's 1,600 communes, or clusters of villages; a general election must be held by July 2003. Elections in Cambodia are often accompanied by violence, including attacks on two hotels in Phnom Penh in July 2001 by the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, who allegedly operate from Thailand.

Large number of Vietnamese citizens, many of them members of ethnic minorities, moved to north-eastern Cambodia after a Vietnamese government crackdown on unrest in two of its Central Highland provinces in summer 2001. Cambodia wants to repatriate the Vietnamese.

Cambodia's 13 million residents have a GDP of $3.2 billion which has been expanding by five to seven percent a year, in part because of growing exports from 200 garment factories.

Philippines. The Commission on Filipinos Overseas reported that 2.5 million Filipinos were abroad as permanent settlers, and another three million were temporary legal guest workers. Some 2,500 Filipinos leave for overseas jobs every day, and the government has declared 2002 to be the "Year of Overseas Employment Providers" in Proclamation No. 76.

About six percent of the 15 million Filipino families depend on a relative working overseas; remittances were $6 billion in 2000. Migrants are often described by Philippine officials as bagong bayani, meaning "new heroes." Five of the estimated 100,000 migrants returning for Christmas won the annual "Pamaskong Handog sa OFWs" (Christmas Offering for OFWs) sponsored by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

There may be an exodus of professionals in 2002, driven by a slowing economy, political turmoil and a high crime rate, especially kidnapping for ransom. However, the economy is expected to expand by four to five percent in 2002, up from 2.8 percent in 2001.

Over the past decade, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration has filed 639 cases alleging illegal recruitment, but only 66 of the cases recommended for prosecution resulted in a criminal conviction, which the National Bureau of Investigations attributes to the inefficiency of the justice system and a reluctance of the victims to file formal charges. Some victims refuse to testify because the suspect is a relative, friend or resident of their town.