Table 1 Timeline of COVID-19 policies and legislation related to migrant workers
From: COVID-19 and migrants: lessons for pandemic preparedness from the Malaysian experience
Timeline | Immigration/home affairs policy | Health policy | Labor policy | Social protection policy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2020 February | The then Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob gave assurances that undocumented migrants should not be worried about their status as the government has agreed not to make it an issue but would instead focus on curbing the pandemic | The first detection of COVID-19 in the migrant population in Malaysia in the international Tabligh (religious gathering) | ||
2020 March | Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin initially stated that foreigners would have to pay for COVID-19 tests and treatment at government hospitals. This approach was likely in keeping with the healthcare financing policy to charge unsubsidized fees to foreigners in government hospitals | The Ministry of Health later clarified that COVID-19 tests and treatment at government hospitals would be free for foreigners | The Human Resources Ministry advised that ‘if a lay-off is inevitable, foreign employees should be terminated first’ | |
2020 April/May | Beginning of mass arrests and detention of migrants with the objective of stopping the transmission of the COVID-19 virus Security at land, sea and air borders are tightened by the Police, Army, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, Immigration Department, People’s Volunteers Corps (RELA) Beginning of online xenophobic and hate speech against migrants. Lack of action by the government to stop it Selangor Mansion, Malayan Mansion and Menara City One which house migrant workers is barricaded with barbed wire and put under Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO). The objective was to reduce the transmission of the virus | The Director-General of Health warned against discriminating against migrants in healthcare | Reports of overcrowded lodgings of migrants emerge and keep getting attention till early 2021 Calls increase to enforce the Workers’ Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities (Amendment) Act 2019 (Act 446) which was passed in July 2019 and gazetted in September 2019 Act 446 sought to improve housing conditions for migrant workers by imposing statutory obligations on employers regarding migrant worker accommodation. However, its enforcement was stymied by lack of enforcement | |
2020 May | The beginning of outbreaks of COVID-19 clusters in the immigration detention centers. The Ministry of Health initiates systematic mass screening and decontamination procedures at the immigration detention centers and arranges quarantine and treatment, after which undocumented migrants would be deported upon completing treatment | The government agreed that employers of documented migrants would be subsidized. The Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) to which migrant workers make monthly contributions would bear the cost of COVID-19 screening for documented foreign workers who make SOCSO contributions. The objective was to ease the burden of the employers who would have otherwise had to fork out the cost of routine workplace base testing for COVID-19 | ||
2020 August | The government announces social protection programs for Malaysians. Migrant workers are excluded | |||
2020 November | The government announced the Return Recalibration Program. This was to facilitate voluntary return of migrant workers who were undocumented before the pandemic began The Home Minister announced employers in the construction, manufacturing, plantation and agriculture sectors will be allowed to legally employ undocumented foreign workers under the Labour Recalibration Plan | The government announced Labor Recalibration Program, which sought to provide a pathway to employment for migrant workers who lost their jobs because of COVID-19 related layoffs. It was not successful | ||
2020 December | Investigative reports by journalists reveal a lack of enforcement of workplace policies instituted to reduce COVID-19 transmission in the glove manufacturing sector | |||
2021 February | Malaysia extends free COVID-19 vaccination to migrants | The Emergency (Employees’ Minimum Standards of Housing, Accommodations, and Amenities (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 (Act 446) came into effect; however, enforcement was postponed giving employers more time | ||
2021 March | U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) begins seizing disposable gloves produced in Malaysia under conditions of forced labor, reflecting inadequate enforcement of workplace protection | |||
2021 November | The Labor Minister clarified that the Recalibration programs were not meant to legalize foreign workers |