The Malaysian Insight

HUMAN rights experts are warning of a new round of anti-foreigner sentiment brewing in Malaysia, fanned by some in Perikatan Nasional as economic conditions sour because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

They said such sentiments will make it hard to aid the large numbers of documented and undocumented migrant workers, refugees and the stateless who have lost jobs because of the downturn.

This xenophobia is seen in how the Home Ministry and authorities have gone after the media reporting on raids against migrant workers and their treatment in detention centres.

Hate speech also hampers the ability to craft a meaningful and timely migrant-worker policy that addresses Malaysia’s labour needs as it attempts to become a high-income nation.

Suhakam deputy chairman Jerald Joseph said elements in PN are fostering a sense of false nationalism by attacking poor foreigners and the media.

“At this present moment, there is growth of hate speech and xenophobia against foreigners,” Jerald said in a webinar featuring United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Prof Philip Alston.

“There is a false sense of nationalism from those in the government trying to be heroes by attacking foreigners or a messenger, such as the media,” said Jerald in the webinar organised by human rights group, Society for the Promotion of Human Rights (Proham).

Jerald was referring to the police investigation of the Al Jazeera news channel over an episode on its 101 East Programme on how migrant workers were arrested and treated in detention camps during the nationwide lockdown between March 18 and May 12.

Six journalists with the network are being investigated on charges of sedition, defamation and violating the Communications and Multimedia Act.

During the movement-control order (MCO), a South China Morning Post reporter was also hauled up for reporting about a Labour Day raid on migrants in the Masjid India area.

Rohingnya asylum seekers have also been a target of online hate campaigns during the lockdown.

According to Alston’s report on poverty, the population of migrant workers is estimated to be between three million and six million and their poverty rates are excluded from official figures.

“These workers play an outsized role in the Malaysian economy, which has a labour force of about 15.66 million, and have been a key factor in the competitiveness and economic success of Malaysia,” the report said.

In the webinar, Alston said conditions in Malaysia, especially as the country is attempting to recover from Covid-19, are ripe for xenophobia.

“(The anti-foreigner sentiment) we are seeing that around the world and Malaysia is no different with increasing unemployment given the number of undocumented migrants.”

If the government is serious about better management of its migrant population, it needs to treat them fairly and come up with a better count of their numbers, Jerald said.

“We need better data on how many foreigners there are, how many are refugees, stateless people, how many undocumented migrant workers,” Joseph told The Malaysian Insight after the webinar.

“Are they able to access healthcare and aid? Because we have to take care of these people as they are in our country and contributing to our economy. We need to find out how they are being exploited?

“We have no choice but to help everyone in our country and not just Malaysians.” – July 13, 2020.