School of Politics, History and International Relations

Module: Global Political Economy

Semester: Autumn 2012

Module Convenor: Christopher Napoli

Student: Mannat Kaur

Student ID: 011857

Programme: MA in International Relations

Working Title: Voluntary International Migration in this present day globalizing world: threat or opportunity?

Research Question: How does the presence of foreign immigrants workers contribute towards the economic development of Malaysia? Are they an important part of the economic engine of Malaysia? Foreign Immigrants in Malaysia threat or opportunity to the Malaysian Economy?

Background: With about 100 million people living outside

their place of birth and 17 million refugees

scattered all over the world, almost all

countries are now part of the

transnational migration network, some playing dominant roles in sending out or

receiving labour, while others are involved

in both. Malaysia is dominantly a host

country, however, there are strong

evidence to suggest that many of its

citizens are working and residing abroad.

Malaysia from the time of British Colonial rule has had an eminent presence of foreign immigrant workers in the country. Multi-ethnic population in Malaysia demonstrated the long history of migration. About 40 percent of its 26 million people are of migrant stock. At that time, they were mostly unskilled workers forcefully brought from China and India to meet the demands of cheap labor force working in tin and rubber industries. By the 1970s Malaysia’s industrialization program had became heavily dependent on labor-intensive manufacturing production. Thereafter, Malaysia became the largest labor-importing country in Southeast Asia in the 1990s. In 2007 migrant workers comprised about 2.8 million of the 12 million labor force. Till date, it still continues to rely heavily on especially unskilled foreign workers as they are doing the jobs that are shunned by the locals in Malaysia. E.g. working in construction sites. The skilled immigrants or expatriates bring in fresh talent, knowledge; enhance skills and Malaysia’s productivity by enriching the local labor force.

Threats

1. Illegal migrants.

2. Pressure on public amenities services such as healthcare and education.

3. Protection of rights of the foreign migrants

4. Dependency on foreign workers.

However, Malaysia is working towards the efficient management of the inflow of foreign immigrants as there are over one million undocumented illegal migrant workers in the state. There are very limited numbers of highly skilled foreign migrants in Malaysia. The number of expatriates in our country stood at 31, 371 accounting for 3% of the total migrant workers in the nation. It is also trying to be less dependent on these foreign workers so that the jobs can be taken by their nationals. This has resulted in tight immigration policy and control at the same time promoting policies like ‘Malaysia my second home’ for more experienced skilled expatriate workers to come work in Malaysia and contribute towards its economic growth/ development. Talent Corporation is an organization in Malaysia that is extremely active and works towards attracting and retaining high skilled human capital in Malaysia.

In spite of the tight immigration control and policies foreign immigrants make up a large part of the workforce in Malaysia. One in every five workers is a foreigner. There is much more foreign unskilled labor workforce than highly skilled professional expatriates’ population in Malaysia.

Question to the Answer

· Introduction: Explain the event/debate: brief history about the foreign immigrant workers and migration in Malaysia under British Colonial rule

· Pre Independence foreign worker policies

· Push and pull factor migration theory- relevance of theory

· Literature reviews/ prior studies done: 3 literature reviews on the impact of foreign immigrant workers on the Malaysian economy.

· Current foreign immigrant workers situation in Malaysia. (Skilled and unskilled)

· Malaysia’s foreign worker policies: post independence: unskilled labor policies, Malaysia my second home policy, Talent Corp etc.

· Implications of foreign immigrant workers on the economy in Malaysia; In what ways has it contributed to the growth of the Malaysian economy, how is the presence of foreign immigrant workers seen as a opportunity for the recipient country (Malaysia), what are the problems Malaysia is facing due to the presence of the large foreign immigrant workforce in the country (threat).

· Conclusion: Restate problem, what you have done in the assignment, findings: first, second, third etc.

Conclusion

Malaysia cannot do without its foreign immigrant workers. Nonetheless, this large migrant workforce in Malaysia also has its setbacks. The Malaysian government needs to review its immigration control system and policies to bring in more highly skilled people to boost the growth of its economy. In this way, Malaysia will gain even more than lose from the foreign immigrant workforce and voluntary global migration.

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