Tourism Malaysia Case Study

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The Migration Panorama in Malaysia by Sch. Nalerin Erone Nahfirin, SJ

This article is meant to be a preparation material for the Jesuits Scholastic and Brother Circle (SBC) meeting held in the Jesuit Apostolic Center and Sogang University, Seoul, Korea on December 19 - 28, 2016.

Introduction “Malaysia, truly Asia” is a slogan launched by the Tourism Malaysia since 1999 to promote Malaysia as one of the exceptional tourist destinations in the world. Since then, Malaysia has brought more than 7.4 million tourists from all over the world (Munan 2002). Ironically, the slogan is not only capture the essence of the country’s unique diversity, but also illustrates the social dilemma of the immigrant labors faced by the country. Owing to its inclusive connotation, this slogan …show more content…

Coupled with lax enforcement and the absence of an effective mechanism to manage migrant workers, has resulted in millions of foreigners outstaying their employment contracts (Lek 2016). On the other hand, the foreign workers are also confronting with high risk of xenophobic threats and terrible racial discriminations by the Malaysian government (Aw 2016). Hays exposed that the foreign workers are barred from marrying local women, opening bank accounts, changing jobs or traveling. He quoted the founder of the Tenaganita group, Irene Fernandez, saying that the foreign workers are constantly stopped, questioned and arrested even when they have valid documents. During a 1998 "Operation Get Out" campaign, illegal workers were rounded up and placed in detention centers; their heads were shaved, they were loaded on boats and sent back to Indonesia. By hook or by crook, they kept coming back to Malaysia by boat from Indonesia because the economic situation there was worse than Malaysia (Hays

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