Foreign workers & crime : a misconception?

Abstract

At any point in time there are 2-3 million foreign migrants on Malaysian soil. The latest figure given by the Ministry of Rome Affairs was 3 million [Star April 9, 2009). Official figures also indicate about 2/3 are legal and 1/3 are illegal and they are also involved in legal and illegal activities. Most are employed in five main sectors of our economy, the manufacturing, construction, plantation, services and domestic sectors. The concern of this paper are not the productively engaged migrants, but the preponderance of negative activities by these groups as portrayed by the Malaysian media. Almost daily, we hear of thefts, robberies, forgeries, kidnappings, murders, infanticides, rapes by Indonesians, Bungladeshis, Myanmarese and others. The question is to what extent are these crimes committed by the foreign migrants, compared to the local population? ls Malaysia perceived as not only a goldmine in terms of work opportunities but also crime opportunities? An analysis of the most recent crime statistics show that indeed, crime rates are soaring from 157,459 cases in 2005, to 198,622 in 2006 and up to 224,298 in 2007. The crimes range from murder, rape, sexual harrasement, armed robberies, riots, vehicle thefts, house break-ins, and thefts. But in the three years examined, less than 2% of the total number of crimes in the crime index are committed by foreign migrants, while the media hype of their involvement is explosive to leave an image of enormous negativity towards their presence in our country.