Workers Rights in Malaysia

Life for most Malaysians today is far from the prosperity which Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamed has long promised. A key element of his blueprint for economic growth, entitled Vision 2020, was to build a sophisticated manufacturing sector that could compete in global markets. But workers across Malaysia are oppressed by lack of legal protections for basic rights. For a long time, the Malaysian Trades Union Congress has expressed concern that the Trade Union Act only weakens the union movement. Indeed, Malaysia has not ratified ILO Convention 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise. It is believed that less than 20 percent of employees in the country are unionized. And, equally as crippling to workers rights is a plethora of legislation purportedly aimed at national security concerns, including the notorious Internal Security Act, the Official Secrets Act, the Printing Presses and Publications Act and the Sedition Act.

Under the guise of “Asian values”, government officials silence Malaysians who voice concern for human rights. Labor activists and other advocates for democratic reform, such as Tian Chua, Vice President of a dominant opposition party, work under the constant threat of indefinite detention by executive fiat. Tian was detained for more than two years without charge or trial. A leading campaigner for migrant workers, Irene Fernandez, has been on trial for the last six years charged with maliciously publishing false news in a report on conditions at detention centers. And in May 2002, without provocation or warning, police assaulted participants in a May Day rally calling for welfare protection for workers and the right to unionize.

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