KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 — As China becomes a global infrastructure builder, more of its citizens are leaving home to work abroad in Africa and South-east Asia, including Malaysia.
However, some of the Chinese migrant workers here have been slipping in on tourist visas instead of gaining employment through proper work permits, and end up being abused and denied their salaries, Financial Times (FT) reported today.
“Our labour contractor said we would switch our tourist visas to working visas when we arrived but that has not happened yet,” Liu Wei, a Chinese construction worker in Johor’s Forest City project backed by China, was quoted as saying.
The British daily reported Liu as relating that his 20,000-yuan payment for work completed was withheld by his manager, and that he was unable to demand for it due to his illegal work status.
FT reported that many international large infrastructure projects funded by the Chinese are being increasingly built by workers from their home country, especially in the final phase of construction.
The paper added that the mainland Chinese are drawn to work abroad by the lucrative salaries — a few months’ work can reportedly finance living costs for up to a year at home — and turn to an informal network of subcontractors who charge as high as 30,000 yuan to match workers with construction projects.
“When the crunch comes where the project has to be completed in a very short time and is important politically to the host government, that’s when there will be a lot of Chinese workers who will be flown in to do the last stretch of projects,” Barry Sautman, a professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, told FT.
Allegations about the use of illegal migrant workers in the Forest City project surfaced about two years ago.
National news agency Bernama reported on May 14, 2017 that the Immigration Department had issued 2,485 temporary work permits as well as 1,682 employment and professional visit passes to Chinese nationals working in four construction locations in Johor, including Forest City.
Two years on, FT reported today that Country Garden, the Chinese property developer for Forest City, said “contractors and sub-contractors are responsible for the recruitment, hiring and payroll of local and foreign workers in related projects” and that it frowns on illegal labour.
The newspaper also said the Malaysian government is trying to get the illegal migrant workers properly registered, but did not elaborate further.
The Immigration Department offered a 3+1 amnesty programme last year where illegal migrant workers were given until August 30 to register themselves through legal channels for re-employment. It began cracking down on illegal workers the next day.
Data on the number arrested and deported since enforcement began to date is unknown.
As of January 1, the department has also suspended its Electronic Travel Registration and Information system that allowed Chinese tourists to apply for a 15-day visa-free entry into Malaysia.
