“How can they go to work if these details are unclear?” said Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani, president of the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organisation Malaysia.
He was referring to a pilot programme spoken of recently by Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed.
Zafar said the government should not embark on the programme without first discussing it with representatives of the refugees.
Referring to Nur Jazlan’s remark that the Rohingya did not favour jobs in the manufacturing sector, he said he wondered where the deputy minister got the idea from.
He said it was more likely that the refugees did not favour working in plantations. “Some of my countrymen fear working in oil palm estates because they have the impression that the palm fruits may fall and hit them.”
A recent news report quoted Nur Jazlan as saying the government was in the midst of arranging work in plantations for 300 Rohingya refugees through a pilot programme. He said the government had set up a task force with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to identity the 300.
Malaysian Federation of Employers executive director Shamsuddin Bardan said he doubted that the Rohingya could adapt to working and living in the estates.
“Conflicts may arise between them and their supervisors if they feel discomfort at the workplace,” he said.
He also said he feared the programme would attract more refugees to Malaysia.
“It must not be seen as encouragement for other refugees to come to Malaysia,” he said, adding that the conditions for eligibility to work must be clearly spelt out.
Malaysian Trades Union Congress president Abdul Halim Mansor said the refugees must be treated as equal to other workers.
“They should not be hired out of sympathy,” he said. “Pay them accordingly and contribute to their pension funds. Otherwise, it would defeat the purpose of the programme.”
Halim said proper documentation must be provided to protect their rights and ensure they did not become victims of forced labour.