LETTERS: I REFER to the horrifying case of a Nepali worker killed in a freak accident while working in a meat factory in Melaka on Dec 30.
Most Malaysians are focusing on a ministerial resignation.
Although news of the incident was covered in the media, it received little attention from the public.
One then wonders: is the life of a foreign worker worth less?
If so, why is that? The fact that the facts in the reports are inconsistent are telling. AFP reported that the man was 47 years old whereas local news media and reports claim that he was 22. Which is which? I’m inclined to believe that he was 22.
The death of migrant workers is not new in Malaysia. In February, there was a case of a Bangladeshi (to humanise him, his name was reported as Kassim) who was killed while working as a construction worker.
The Kathmandu Post newspaper in Nepal reported that there were 364 deaths in 2017.
The figures for 2018 are no better, amounting to nearly one Nepali foreign worker's death every day.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) in 2018 instituted the Migrants Rights and Decent Work Project to support the Nepali government in promoting new destinations or sectors for low-skilled Nepalese workers.
Seeing as the ILO report on the deaths of Nepali foreign workers — as far back as 2016 — stated that Malaysia had the highest number of deaths, one cannot help but come to the conclusion that the report was borne out of a necessity to curb these numbers.
It is important to note here that Malaysia “contributed” most of it (the numbers, that is).
This is not a game we should be winning.
These are lives that Malaysia is not worrying about, and if we are, it is not enough.
We are quick to blame foreign workers for “stealing” our jobs, for taking up space in buses.
The truth of the matter is that foreign workers take on 3D (dirty, dangerous and demeaning) jobs in Malaysia and put themselves at risk.
We attack them but don’t have the humanity to be concerned about poor safety conditions in factories and construction sites.
I sometimes fear that Winston Churchill’s style has become the go-to in dealing with human lives.
In the interest of context, Churchill once said something along the lines of “famine or no famine, Indians will always breed like rabbits”.
This was said to be in response to the criticisms on the 1943 Bengal famine, which was a result of British colonial policies and where two million to three million lives were lost.
Whether Churchill’s words are apocryphal, the way in which we treat human lives now is rather Churchillian.
A concern that comes to mind when these deaths occur is whether there has been compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (OSHA). Labour laws protect migrants from these incidents.
The issue is perhaps how far these laws are implemented and how they function in a practical sense.
OSHA is a familiar term. It sounds legitimate and it seems calcified in the system.
It is stipulated in Section 16 of OSHA that the employer has a duty to formulate a health and safety policy.
In the same vein, under section 30, it is mandatory for every employer to establish a safety and health committee at the workplace.
The question is, was this practiced at the meat factory?
Additionally, was there training provided to the Nepali worker about the dangers of operating the meat-mincing machine?
If the answer to these questions are in the negative, the implications are that there will be more of such cases and the stakeholders will again turn a blind eye.
If the answer to these questions are in the positive, then there are loopholes in the manner in which OSHA is practised.
Either way, it appears that Malaysia is caught in a quagmire, one that is subjecting us to international scrutiny.
PARVEEN KAUR HARNAM
Kuala Lumpur
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times