Covid 19 Pandemic Exposes A Fundamental Flaw

---

As the coronavirus Covid-19 continues to hang on nations like a precarious, threatening albatross, we can also take cognisance of a fundamental flaw in Malaysia that is being exposed
Undocumented migrant workers, exploiting middlemen and a rent-seeking culture - all of these will ruin the country's economy and social fabric as the Covid-19 rages on
The millions of undocumented migrant workers did not steal onto our shores in the stillness of the night. Neither did they parachute into the country through covert enemy operatives
The presence of these growing numbers of undocumented foreign workers is owing to the economic framework in the country that breeds the agents, middleman and rent-seeking opportunists
But instead of gunning down the convenient agent cover, the exploiting middleman and catheterising the cancerous rent-seeking culture, we only continue to read news about immigration crackdowns on migrant workers
The reports on these catches of raids here and there that still cannot add up to the claimed millions of undocumented migrant workers is a laughing shame
Not only are undocumented migrant workers the scourge of our economic woes but the lack of a political will to wipe out the middleman and rent-seekers will ultimately ruin the country's economic and social resilience needed to combat pandemics like Covid-19
The story of our middleman and rent-seeking practices add to the way we have cultivated the foreign workers hiring woes
For as long as middlemen are nurtured silently to bully the locals - from farmers, and fishermen to consumers, a national food security crisis is a forgone eventuality
For as long as rent-seeking is a baptised way of doing business in Malaysia, we will never be able to withstand any global financial crunches
The growing problem of undocumented workersFor as long as we continue to make money through slavery agents, the country can only be paralysed with the growing problem of undocumented workers
At some point, we have to face up and ask who really are the traitors of this nation
Are they not the agents authorised to recruit foreign workers
Are they not the employers who, through their exploitative business strategies, force create undocumented workers
Are they not the employers who harbour undocumented workers in order to pay less and profiteer
Are they not the middlemen spread all over the country, cutting across all industries and who make the hardworking farmers, fishermen and consumers be at their exploitative mercy all the time
Are they not the rent-seekers - from businessmen to politicians who are willing to sell this nation for even a few shillings of profit
Perhaps we have to be real honest about our political party funding frameworks too, as these may be the very culprits underlying the problems of recruiting agents, middlemen and the rent-seeking culture
The dangerously precarious future posed by Covid-19 demands immediate answers if we want to save Malaysia. - Mkini

---