TRANSIT CENTRES TO HOUSE FOREIGN WORKERS MAY BE ANSWER TO PUBLIC WOES

By Nor Baizura Basri

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 (Bernama) -- Creating transit centres to house foreign
workers may be the answer to concerns among Malaysians over their rising numbers
in Malaysia, especially with regard to security and health issues, say officials
in the local housing industry.

Even though foreign workers have contributed quite significantly towards the
development of the country, especially in construction, there are still certain
issues involving them that need to be addressed, says the Construction Labour
Exchange Centre Bhd (CLAB).

Its Chief Executive Officer, Azlan Mohd Isa, said such concerns would become
more evident especially by 2015 with the economic integration of Asean countries
that would by then allow easier trade facilitation and labour movement among the
member countries.

"There have been concerns expressed by the public over the rising numbers of
foreign workers in Malaysia and fear that this could lead to potential social
problems if the matter is not handled properly," he told Bernama in an interview
recently.

Currently, there are about two million foreign workers in the country. They are
usually from countries like Indonesia, China, Bangladesh, Nepal, India and other
neighbouring countries, with most of them working in the construction and
services industries.

"The setting up of transit centres to house them could be one of the answers to
address concerns over security and health. We want to build strategic transit
centres for foreign workers that can provide accommodation, basic ammenities and
leisure activities," Azlan said.

Through these centres, the movements of these workers could be easily monitored
while providing better comfort to these workers in terms of amenities and
improved security, he said.

The properly-maintained centres could also help prevent potential abuse by
unscrupulous employers or corrupt officers from law enforcement agencies, said
Azlan.

From the health point of view, these centres could also help contain the spread
of diseases because of better amenities as opposed to the "kongsi" houses that
many of the foreign workers are used to and prevent the establishment of more
foreign squatter colonies.

The other plus points are that these centres could also act as training centres
as the foreign workers are grouped together besides creating multiplier effects
for new business opportunities for local entrepreneurs in retail services.

CLAB is a non-profit organisation established in 2003 by the Construction
Industry Development Board Malaysia (CIDB) following a decision by the Cabinet
Committee on Foreign Workers to bring in and redistribute foreign workers for
companies or organisations in Malaysia.

The labour exchange is currently studying the creation of labour clusters in
Asean to prepare towards greater regional integration by 2015.

"Labour movements between Asean countries will be more active and intensive as
the grouping enters a phase where trade facilitation will be freer and more open
between these countries.

"Therefore, there is a need for Malaysia to adjust and adapt to the
situation and we should look at ways as to how this can benefit the country without
creating any kind of social problems," he said.

Azlan estimated that the return on investment from these transit centres will be
about five years.

"We have completed our proposals on this and what we need is just the land to
build these centres. State governments could perhaps lease us the land for may
be 10 or 20 years," he said, adding that the land may be returned to the state
if need be later.

Azlan cited the case of Singapore which had been successful in establishing such
a centre in Soon Lee Road in the republic where the movement of foreign workers
were controlled through proper transportation and that proper public ammenities
were also provided inside the centre.

Over the longer-term, he said such an effort would benefit the country as it
could help allay the concerns of Malaysians over the strong presence of foreign
workers, provide better amenities for the "guest workers" and prevent potential
abuse of them while Malaysia strengthened its capacity building in line with its
goal to be a high-income nation by 2020.
-- BERNAMA



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