By TK Chua

I agree with Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi that levies on foreign workers should be more appropriately imposed to prevent unfettered entry and indiscriminate use of foreign labour in the country.

For far too long, we have heard Malaysian employers claim that foreign workers are cheaper, more hardworking, cooperative and easier to manage. Locals are lazy, expensive and problematic. We argue as if we have forgotten we are all Malaysians yearning for a better life.

Surely not every Malaysian is an employer or entrepreneur. Surely there are many Malaysians among us who are dependent on others for jobs and employment.

Surely with development, ordinary workers, like anyone else, expect higher standards of living and better working conditions. If not, what then is the benefit of economic development?

Unfettered entry of foreign workers has pushed the “production function” of this country to the gutter. There is hardly any innovation, mechanisation and automation. Instead of productivity improvement, we are moving backward toward the standards of countries where these foreign workers originate.

Why should employers be thinking of innovation and automation when there are unlimited foreign workers to exploit? Why should they be thinking of safety when lives of foreign workers are cheap and easily replaceable?

For selfish reasons, captains of industry and government officials have failed to admit that Malaysia’s middle income and low productivity conundrum could be largely due to unfettered entry and indiscriminate use of foreign workers for the slightest of excuses.

How do we explain an economy where almost every major sector is inundated with foreign workers? Make no mistake, these workers are no longer coming here to supplement or complement our needs. They are now the dominant force that dictates our production function and our way of life. Just look at their safety and hygiene standards and how our levels have gradually gravitated towards theirs.

How do we build an economy where Malaysians are only capable of becoming politicians, civil servants, policemen, immigration officers, armed forces personnel, landowners, entrepreneurs, industrialists, owners of businesses, and professionals like doctors, lawyers and accountants?

What happens to Malaysians who are not able to break into these categories? Where do they go? Yes, we expect them to compete with foreign workers doing one of the many low-paying jobs, the nature of which has not changed in the last thirty years.

I think Malaysians are fast being phased out in the construction, plantation, manufacturing and services sectors. In case we have not noticed, there are hardly any Malaysian plumbers and electricians left. Soon, there will be no more Malaysian hawkers and petty traders.

Is that why our ever impressive GDP growth has created more low-income households that depend on BR1M? What use is a bigger GDP when it is generated by foreigners for the benefit of the entrepreneurial class and the foreign worker? It makes our national statistics look better, but it is largely meaningless to most ordinary Malaysians.

The use of foreign workers will remain a contentious issue. Malaysians are divided on this simply because costs and benefits are lopsidedly shared among Malaysians. Employers and the capitalist class have gained enormously from the use of foreign workers without having to pay the “full economic cost”. This is in addition to those who are directly involved in importing the workers, managing them, deporting them, and the bribery involved in the process.

The downside is depressed wages for most Malaysian workers, poor working conditions, lack of innovation and lack of mechanisation in our economy.

The arbiter is the government who must now decide how best to manage an economy that is equitable and sustainable. An economy built on low productivity, low innovation, and unfettered use of foreign workers cannot be beneficial to the country in the long term.

TK Chua is an FMT reader.

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