MP SPEAKS | Withdraw Employment Bill for failing to meet ILO standards

MP SPEAKS | The International Labour Organisation (ILO) defines forced labour as "all work or service which is exacted from any person under the threat of a penalty and for which the person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily."

The ILO forced labour indicators include abuse of vulnerability, deception, restriction of movement, isolation, physical and sexual violence, intimidation and threats, retention of identity documents, withholding of wages, debt bondage, abusive working and living conditions and excessive overtime.

While I take note of the positive inclusion of threat, deception, force and restriction of movement, the bill to amend the Employment Act 1955 has failed to incorporate the definition of forced labour and 10 other indicators, all of which Malaysian employers have been accused of for decades.

Malaysia has ratified the ILO fundamental Convention 29 on forced labour and this requires us to ensure that the use of forced labour is punishable as a penal offence and that penalties are really adequate and strictly enforced.

However, a penalty not exceeding RM100,000 or a prison term not exceeding two years or both hardly qualify as adequate. It’s in fact, only pocket change for wealthy employers and serving one-third of a two-year prison term, if at all, won’t warrant effective changes.

While the amendments criminalise the restriction of movements, this is made redundant by the failure to articulate the withholding of...