Making every life matter

> Let’s not be a nation of parasites that live off the hard work of foreign labour without paying them fair dues

All sorts of excuses, said to have come from Putrajaya, were given. They had to leave the country.

They came back after a few days because they needed the money. Despite knowing that work permits are hard to come by, they decided to take the risk.

And in spite of the protection money payoff, the reflexology centre got raided recently and the women were trooped off to a detention centre.

Their employers were nowhere to be seen. They weren’t even charged for harbouring illegal workers. They seemed to have gotten away scot-free.

The workers are still languishing in the detention centre despite paying various fines. They can’t even leave the country as somewhere down the line their passports had been misplaced.

These victims can approach their embassy for a one-time exit pass, but that might undermine their chances of getting another travel document in future.

Do you see the rot in our ‘system’? Looks like there are far too many employers who take the easy way out.

This route often has potential for entrapment by unscrupulous enforcement officers. It’s a big merry-go-round as the primary objective is money.

My questions are: why are our rules so fuzzy? Who made them fuzzy? Why make it so difficult for foreigners to work in jobs that Malaysians don’t want to do anyway?

Let’s employ people in the right and proper way. Are we that heartlessly exploitative that we’re always drooling about cost benefits whenever we get foreigners to work on the cheap?

Let’s not do things that undermine human dignity. Let’s not be a nation of cheapskates and parasites that sponge off some unfortunate foreigners.

On sponging, I’m told that illegals on the deportation list are allegedly forced to buy luggage from a certain department before they can leave.

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is right – the rot in the civil service is so bad that it’s hard to find the few who are clean among the many dirty. The recent arrest of some officers may be just the tip of the iceberg.