On the occasion of International Labour Day, the Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism (GRFDT) organised a virtual panel discussion on “COVID-19: Issues and Challenges of Migrant and Diaspora Communities” on 1st May 2020.
Prof Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria is the Principal Research Fellow at the Institute of Ethnic Studies. He holds a PhD in sociology from Oxford Books University, United Kingdom. Since March 2018 he has been Practice Professor in Public Advocacy by the National University of Malaysia (UKM).
Prof Jayasooria started with stating how the Government of India had announced a complete lockdown in March to control the spread of COVID-19 virus. Apart from India, many other countries implemented lockdown to prevent the spread; Malaysia being one of them.
He further went ahead to talk about how even though Malaysia is not a very large country like India or the USA; it still has approximately two million migrants involved in various sectors like agriculture, services, the domestic worker and construction.
Prof. Jayasooria stated that The movement control order issued by the government of Malaysia impacted the migrants’ labour adversely. those who violated the order were arrested immediately, it resulted in the incarceration of 21,000 people.
Similar to any other region, the migrants were the worst hit by the movement control order. Those who got stuck in other cities were not getting easy access to testing and treatment. These migrants had to live under shabby conditions with Government subsidies as their only support. Even worse was the situation of illegal migrants, who had no authorization to work in Malaysia hence were outside the ambit of social welfare. This unfortunate lot had no security or solidarity in an alien land.
The misery of migrants was not limited to any particular region. In the Indian subcontinent, approximately 1,80,000 people registered themselves with the UNHCR. A large number of Rohingyas from Myanmar also registered themselves with UNHCR; some estimates suggest the number to be in the range of 20,000 – 22,000. These people primarily registered themselves with UNHCR to gain access to basic needs sustenance facilities.
The pandemic has laid bare a fact under challenging times; migrants will need more empathy and support from the civilised world and governments. This support expectation will be in the form of social security, financial help and transportation facilities. Though Governments have put a lot of effort in these directions, a lot remains uncovered.
Reported by Deepika Did M.A in sociology from guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. Presently lives in Kolkata. Has an interest in journalism and writing. Twitter Id @Deepika56370612