Bare Essentials
The office we're currently occupying was recently completed. Phase 1 was ready for occupation around March last year, and as we speak construction is ongoing.
At the parking lot the other day, the contractors dismantled the workers' living quarters (because we want to fully utilise the parking lots, I believe). After the dismantling the living conditions were laid bare for all eyes to see. Very basic to say the least. Used carpets, or rather bits and pieces of the carpets we used for our office. No mattress. Where will they end up sleeping in? Most likely the external dorms fashioned from container units.
It is a common sight- migrant workers brought to Malaysia to work on construction sites or plantations or our restaurants. These are thankless lowly paid jobs that locals may not be interested in but sought after by foreign workers, purely due to the exchange rate perhaps (which is another story because the currency is not as strong now as it once was).
Personally, I think that they contribute immensely to the country- building our schools, MRT lines, roads and various structures to benefit Malaysian citizens in general. These jobs are very labour intensive and life-threatening in some cases. Economically however, I sometimes wish that Malaysians do these jobs & companies should pay better to these groups- for the money to remain in Malaysia as much as possible. The migrant workers arguably do spend in Malaysia, however the bulk of their income would have been sent overseas to their respective countries to build houses or buy cows or to pay for their children's education. Nothing wrong with that, they have earned their keep and in some cases they would not have been treated too great but they endured.
The points that I wanted to make with this entry are two-fold:
1- We should treat our migrant workers better, if we decide to employ them
2- For the sake of the economy we should pay locals better to do labour-intensive or skills-based jobs
(and stop cutting funds from universities too, because education is our long-term investment towards TN50 and developed nation status but this is another story for another day).
At the parking lot the other day, the contractors dismantled the workers' living quarters (because we want to fully utilise the parking lots, I believe). After the dismantling the living conditions were laid bare for all eyes to see. Very basic to say the least. Used carpets, or rather bits and pieces of the carpets we used for our office. No mattress. Where will they end up sleeping in? Most likely the external dorms fashioned from container units.
It is a common sight- migrant workers brought to Malaysia to work on construction sites or plantations or our restaurants. These are thankless lowly paid jobs that locals may not be interested in but sought after by foreign workers, purely due to the exchange rate perhaps (which is another story because the currency is not as strong now as it once was).
Personally, I think that they contribute immensely to the country- building our schools, MRT lines, roads and various structures to benefit Malaysian citizens in general. These jobs are very labour intensive and life-threatening in some cases. Economically however, I sometimes wish that Malaysians do these jobs & companies should pay better to these groups- for the money to remain in Malaysia as much as possible. The migrant workers arguably do spend in Malaysia, however the bulk of their income would have been sent overseas to their respective countries to build houses or buy cows or to pay for their children's education. Nothing wrong with that, they have earned their keep and in some cases they would not have been treated too great but they endured.
The points that I wanted to make with this entry are two-fold:
1- We should treat our migrant workers better, if we decide to employ them
2- For the sake of the economy we should pay locals better to do labour-intensive or skills-based jobs
(and stop cutting funds from universities too, because education is our long-term investment towards TN50 and developed nation status but this is another story for another day).
posted by elya at 8:48 am
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