MP SPEAKS | Centralised labour quarters will improve workers' welfare

MP SPEAKS | More centralised labour quarters (CLQ) that comply with national housing standards for workers need to be built in Selangor and around the country especially on industrial land. 

Last Friday on Jan 28, Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shaari officiated a ground-breaking ceremony in Kampung Baru Balakong for the first CLQ for factory workers in the state to be built on industrial land.

This CLQ was initiated by the Factory Owner’s Association in Kampung Baru Balakong and has received the necessary approval from the relevant state and federal agencies including the Kajang Municipal Council (MPKJ) and Plan Selangor (formerly known as the Town and Country Planning Department, an agency under the Housing and Local Government Ministry). 

This 15-storey CLQ consists of 598 units of accommodation and can house up to 3,600 workers from the surrounding factories in the eight nearby industrial estates in the Balakong/Seri Kembangan area.

While this hostel is meant to house both Malaysian and non-Malaysian workers of factories in the Balakong area, most of the workers who will be housed here will be foreign workers. 

While I believe that the design of each unit can be customised by their owners, the basic design is meant for individual workers, rather than for families. 

Each unit will be able to accommodate six workers (which is compliant with the Workers’ Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act or Act 446) and the hostel will provide additional amenities such as a clinic, supermarket, multi-purpose hall, parking for buses and perimeter fencing and security.

The guidelines and procedures for applying to build CLQs for workers were published in 2021 by Plan Malaysia including how to obtain the necessary approvals to build these quarters on industrial land, which was previously not allowed.

Importantly, these CLQs will be built and managed in compliance with Act 446. This is an important step in ensuring the proper treatment of workers in the manufacturing sector so that accusations of workers (especially foreign workers) being mistreated and housed in inhumane conditions can be minimised. 

We have witnessed actions taken by the United States government against many glove manufacturers in Malaysia because of such accusations. More recently, a Johor Baru based supplier of components to Dyson, a global manufacturer of high-end electrical appliances, was removed as the company’s supplier because of labour law violation accusations.

More CLQs should be built on existing industrial land not just in Selangor but also in other states such as Negeri Sembilan, Malacca, Johor and Perak which have large industrial estates with a high number of foreign workers. 

The building of such CLQs in industrial land will not only be more convenient for the factory workers in terms of reducing traveling time to work but is also less intrusive for the local resident population which may object to such CLQs being built in existing residential areas.

State governments should work closely together with the federal government to identify tax and other incentives to encourage greater investment by the private sector in the building and management of such CLQs on industrial land for the manufacturing sector.

ONG KIAN MING is Bangi MP and the DAP's assistant political education director.

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