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“Not many Indians in Malaysia lost jobs”

SINGAPORE: “Not many Indians” are among the 7,000 foreign workers retrenched so far in Malaysia because of the global economic crisis.

Malaysia’s Human Resources Minister S. Subramanian told The Hindu over telephone on Sunday that electronics and textiles, the sectors now effected, hosted mainly Indonesian and Bangladeshi workers. The overall job losses were 15,000, including those of Malaysians.

Indian workers were not hard hit and those affected “could be lesser than a few hundreds,” Dr. Subramanian said. Indians were a conspicuous lot in the services and plantation sectors, which “have not been hit so far.” The construction industry, hosting “some Indian workers,” was also largely “unaffected”.

Estimates of the number of Indian workers vary between 1.50 lakhs and two lakhs. And, the two countries recently signed a labour pact providing for an “official framework” for figuring out “solutions of issues” about the terms and conditions of employment. Interestingly, “there are still quite a number of vacancies” in the information technology sector in Malaysia, but foreigners would be preferred only in some “specialised areas where we cannot find locals.”

It was business as usual for Satyam’s IT operations in Malaysia, the Minister indicated. It had “not actually cut down or reduced” its work.

On the situation in Sri Lanka, he said the humanitarian crisis facing the Tamils “is a matter of concern to us [in the] Malaysian Indian Congress.” Dr. Subramanian, who represents the MIC in the government, said he “might request Malaysian Foreign Minister” to impress on Colombo to ensure that “the civilians are protected.” Malaysia is hosting between 10,000 and 15,000 Sri Lankan refugees under the UN auspices. Asked about the speculation concerning the whereabouts of LTTE leader V. Prabakaran, Dr. Subramanian said “we have got no evidence of that here [in Malaysia].”

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