The plight of the 47 Malaysians who are currently incarcerated in Cambodia has grabbed the media headlines in Sarawak.
We have heard about human trafficking happening to other nationalities but this time the outcry is due to the fact that 44 of the 47 are Sarawakians.
The majority of the news and publicity surrounding them is centred on the fact that they were duped into going abroad with promises of jobs and a certain amount of income.
But why are Sarawakians going out of the state to earn their living? Are we not living in a land with plenty of resources such as oil, gas, timber, plantations and lots of land? What more can one ask for?
There is indeed something wrong when so many Sarawakians need to go abroad to secure their future.
According to one national daily, there are more than 80,000 Sarawakians living in Johor alone. The figure is of course much higher if we take into account the rest of Malaya. In this case, at least they are in Malaysia where they are safe and welcomed.
If they had jobs in Sarawak they could contribute to Sarawak’s growth and would be in the warm arms of Sarawak, their homeland. It is understandable when Sarawakians go abroad to seek better-paying jobs and to get exposure to enhance their careers.
However, in the case of the 44, on the face of it, they seemed to have been unable to secure any employment here and thus had to go to Cambodia for what seem to be basic income level jobs.
Sarawak is used to people from other countries doing jobs with minimum wages and not the other way around.
I am sure our authorities are doing all that is possible to secure the release of all the 47 unfortunate Malaysians from what I am sure is an extremely harrowing situation.
From this incident, the need for more jobs at home has come to the forefront. The Sarawak government has made inroads into this matter. They have insisted that more jobs ought to be allocated for Sarawakians in the oil and gas sector via tighter control of work permits.
Many efforts are being made to bring investments for industries and businesses to be set up here.
There are many entrepreneurial programmes that have also been initiated to encourage people to set up businesses.
All these initiatives are creating jobs. However, it now seems these efforts need to be accelerated.
Another important aspect which needs to be addressed is how are unethical employment agencies allowed to operate here?
These evil operators need to be stopped immediately. Their existence is nothing new in Sarawak.
In fact, they have been practising human trafficking here for a long time by bringing in people of other nationalities and keeping them in deplorable working conditions.
There have been cases of people who came to Sarawak having been promised well-paid jobs, but they ended up with nothing, or had to accept much less than what they expected. Some even got stranded with no money to go home.
Several years ago some friends and I came across an individual who was promised a US$2,000 job as a ship engineer. Upon arrival here he found out the pay was actually RM200 per month.
His family had paid a small fortune to the various employment agents for him to secure the job. Having borrowed the money to send him, they were heartbroken to find out the reality of the situation.
He had hardly enough money left on himself. Some of us got together and bought him a return ticket to his homeland.
Having encountered the above situation first hand, I can partly understand the pain the families of those detained in Cambodia must be undergoing.
There are also much more unfortunate situations that have taken place here as published on the Malaysian Trade Union website.
The website describes what it termed as a harrowing tale of modern-day slavery in Sarawak. In the story, a migrant worker answered an oil and gas industry recruitment call in Malaysia and claimed he was sold to a “human trafficking mafia” and forced to work in an oil palm waste factory under inhumane conditions up to 20 hours a day. He was fed rotten food with worms.
With this kind of scenarios being given international coverage, it is no wonder Malaysia was relegated to the third tier of the United States Anti-Trafficking in Persons Watch List.
We must ensure these types of practices are stopped in Sarawak. We are, so far, fortunate that the cruel working conditions described do not seem to have happened to Sarawakians abroad.
Coming back to the plight of the 44 Sarawakians, we must make sure there is no repeat of the case. Solutions must be found fast and implemented. Our Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 must be strengthened as soon as possible.
All current laws relating to these types of matters must be applied stringently and enforced especially against these modern day slave traders and exploiters of humans.
We need to have some high profile prosecutions against the human traffickers to send a message that we are serious about the issue. Sentences must act as deterrents.
The federal and Sarawak governments must continuously make sure that our people do not fall for employment scams.
The unscrupulous and parasitic employment agents and syndicates who carry out the scams must not be allowed to exist and thrive in Sarawak.
Let us all pray for the safe return of all the 47 Malaysians.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the New Sarawak Tribune.
