Immigration Laws: March, 2002 - Number #17

Malaysia. Malaysia has 770,000 legal foreign workers, and an estimated 450,000 unauthorized foreigners, for a total of 1.2 million. Some 74 percent of the legal and unauthorized workers are Indonesians, who speak the same language as Malaysians, followed by 18 percent Bangladeshis and two percent Filipinos. The Malaysian Trades Union Congress puts the number of migrant workers in the country at three million.

The government, citing crime and other social problems, in January 2002 announced that it would deport 10,000 foreigners a month in 2002. The stepped-up enforcement will include checks of street vendors and taxi drivers. The government suspects that Malaysians in many cases have unlawfully sold market spaces (Chow Kit in Kaula Lumpur) and licenses to migrants.

The highest percentages of unauthorized foreign workers are in Malaysia's eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo- some 30,000 unauthorized foreigners are to be deported from Sabah and 10,000 from Sarawak.

In January-February 2002, the government announced a crackdown on Indonesians after 147 Indonesians employed in a factory in Negri Sembilan violently protested police checking them, ostensibly for drugs. The Malaysian workers' rights group Tenaganita said the riot was provoked by police, who lined up workers and began slapping them while conducting urine tests.

In response, the government banned the entry of additional Indonesian workers, except for plantations and domestic service, banned the further recruitment of Bangladeshis, and said that Indian guest workers could be employed only on plantations; legal Indonesians and Bangladeshis will be allowed to finish their contracts.

The government said that guest workers from Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, Myanmar and Laos could enter Malaysia to work in manufacturing and services, Vietnamese and Filipinos in the construction, plantation and agriculture sectors, and Indians for plantations. Legal foreign workers are to receive "smart cards" that include photos and bar codes with employer and worker information. The Nepali government is asking the Malaysian government to allow 300,000 Nepali workers to work in Malaysia, up from the current 32,000. Unskilled foreign workers are limited to a maximum five years in Malaysia.

The Malayan Agricultural Producers Association, representing 450 rubber and oil palm estates in Peninsular Malaysia that employ 37,000 foreign workers, said that Indonesians were preferred farm workers. The National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW), which represents 50,000 permanent workers on plantations, says better housing and living conditions on estates would induce more Malaysians to be farm workers.

Citing increased crime due to unauthorized migrants, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said: "We will impose heavy punishment on illegal workers and those who employ them. The penalties include whipping."

Malaysia normally detains apprehended migrants until they can be removed from the country. This means that the government incurs costs to accommodate and feed the migrants, and some detention camps were reportedly "selling" detained migrants to plantation owners and poultry farm operators for RM500 to RM2,000, saving camp operators housing and food costs, and saving employers the RM1,000 cost of a work permit and other papers for each foreign worker.

Thailand. Thailand during the 1990s managed migrants from Burma, Laos and Cambodia by permitting those who found jobs with Thai employers to be registered- their Thai employers pay a fee and register the migrants they employ for periods that ranged from six months to one year. After this period, migrants were supposed to leave Thailand. However, the period that migrants could stay was extended several times.

In September-October 2001, Thailand had its largest-ever registration, as some 562,527 migrants, 80 percent from Burma, and 10 percent each from Laos and Cambodia, were registered and given six-month renewable work permits in exchange for fees of about $100. Between February 25 and March 24, 2002, previously registered migrants could be re-registered.

In order to discourage more migrants from coming, and to ensure that employers register their migrants, a three-month enforcement drive began on February 10, 2002, to apprehend the estimated 300,000 unregistered migrants. The Administrative Commission on Irregular Immigrant Workers, in conjunction with regional and metro police units, will spend Bt 10 million a month on enforcement. However, Thailand may have trouble repatriating apprehended Burmese-the Burmese government wants to screen those apprehended to ensure that they are Burmese.

This registration was controversial, because the number of unemployed Thais rose in 2001 to 1.3 million, or four percent of the labor force, and about one million of these unemployed had only an elementary school education, making them similar to migrants- their average monthly earnings in 2000 were 4,000 baht, or less than $100. Thai minimum wages, which can vary by province, were raised on January 1, 2002 to Bt168 in Phuket but stayed at Bt165 in Bangkok and surrounding provinces. Minimum wages range from Bt133 to Bt146 a day in other provinces.

Between February 10 and June 10, 2002, the Illegal Labor Suppression Center will step up enforcement against irregular foreign workers. There has been no enforcement since September-October 2001, in part because Thailand does not want to pay for the care of detained migrants, and Burma has not yet agreed to accept a Thai request to establish holding centers for repatriated migrants.

Most migrants in Thailand are from Myanmar, a largely isolated country run by a military government since 1988. The International Labor Organization, which inspected working conditions in Myanmar in November 2001, reported that forced labor continues to exist, which blocks World Bank loans. About 101,000 ethnic Karen and Karenni people are in 11 camps along the Thai-Myanmar border that Thailand wants to close-37,000 of those living in the camps are children under 12.

Thailand has hill tribes as well as migrants who have been in the country for decades, but have not yet been recognized as Thai citizens. In August 2001, Thailand granted citizenship to nine tribes and displaced people in 20 provinces who arrived in Thailand before October 3, 1985.

Myanmar migrants remitted about $300 million in 2001; remittances are expected to rise to $400 million in 2003.

There are 340,000 Thai workers abroad, including 128,000 in Taiwan and 30,000 in Saudi Arabia; there are Thai labor attaches in 11 countries to assist Thai migrants. There were 200,000 Thai migrants in Saudi Arabia in the late 1980s, when a Thai migrant stole diamonds from a Saudi prince. In retaliation, Saudi Arabia made it more difficult for Saudi employers to recruit Thais, and their number declined to 30,000.

Thaksin Shinawatra and the Thai Rak Thai (TRT or Thai love Thai) party won elections in Thailand in January 2001. The new government's economic policy centered on a Bt30 universal healthcare plan (patients pay $0.75 for each doctor/hospital visit, with hospitals receiving Bt1,253 a year for covered person), a Bt1million (US$22,500) revolving loan to each of Thailand's 77,000 villages, and granting farmers a three-year moratorium on the repayment of their debts. The government has established a Bt58 billion reserve fund earmarked for economic stimulus, with half devoted to agriculture.

Singapore. Singapore claimed success for its policies aimed at reducing fatalities among foreign workers in the construction industry- the number of deaths fell from 72 in 1997 to 27 in 2001. Beginning in 2000, contractors with poor safety records could not hire more foreign workers, and potential migrants had to pass a test given in English, Mandarin or Thai of basic building processes. There are 200,000 foreign construction workers in Singapore, with most of the unskilled coming from India and Bangladesh.

Philippines. The Philippines is a country of 78 million with a labor force of 33 million; unemployment is nine to ten percent. Among the 29 million employed persons, 11 million were employed in agriculture, 4.7 million in industry, three million in services, and 14 million in other sectors. Real daily wages averaged 168 pesos a day in the Manila area, and 58 to 160 pesos a day outside Manila; in agriculture, wages were 58 to 143 pesos a day.

The Department of Labor and Employment estimates that there are seven million Filipinos employed overseas. An average 2,300 are deployed to jobs abroad daily, some 866,590 in 2001, compared to 842,000 in 2000 and 837,000 in 1999.

About 45 percent of Filipino migrants are sent to Asia. In 2001, some 114,000 were sent to Hong Kong; 74,000 to Japan; and 38,000 to Taiwan-- 45 percent went to the Middle East, including 191,000 to Saudi Arabia and 45,000 to the UAE. Some 204,000 Filipinos were deployed on foreign ships in 2001, compared to 198,000 in 2000 and 197,000 in 1999.

Remittances were $6 billion in 2000, down from $6.8 billion in 1999. An OFW bank is planned for Manila; its goal is to collect savings from Filipino migrants and invest the funds in the Philippines.

Indonesia. Some 339,000 Indonesians were sent abroad in 2001, down from 435,000 in 2000 and 428,000 in 1999. In 2001, the leading destinations were Malaysia, 110,500; Saudi Arabia, 103,000; and Singapore, 38,000. Most of the migrants sent to Saudi Arabia and Singapore are women going as maids.

Some 16,800 foreigners were issued work permits in 2001, including 2,700 from Japan and 1,500 to 1,600 each from the US, Australia, and Korea.

Vietnam. The Vietnamese government has announced that expatriates who have lived in Vietnam for a year or more are eligible for new residence permits that excuse the holder from the country's strict visa requirements. Foreign residents without family connections in Vietnam will be eligible only for a temporary residence permit valid for one to three years. Citizens of the Philippines and Thailand are not required to get a travel visa. A year-old proposal to exempt French and Japanese tourists for the visa requirement is still being considered.