DUBAI: Malaysia is currently in debate over the law on foreign workers in the United Arab Emirates after rights activists and workers pushed the government to look into the situation facing Malaysians working in the wealthy Gulf country. Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the matter was discussed at length during his meeting with UAE Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Saif Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also Minister of the Interior. “I had requested to see an example of their law, whether it is suitable for adoption in Malaysia. “How they manage it (the law). (UAE) has the same experience where foreigners enter (the country) and disappear,” he told journalists during his official visit to the UAE. The deputy PM also doubles as the Chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Foreign Workers and Illegal Immigrants and said the UAE effort on the new law has taken into account the large numbers of foreign workers in the country. Still, some human rights activists argue the UAE must go farther in ensuring the workers in the country are paid adequately and have legal frameworks to file claims of abuse against their employers. “We have struggled in recent years, and while the UAE is doing a better job of reforming the system, there are still guarantees that are needed,” Uthman Dabat, a Malaysian human rights worker currently in UAE to report on the conditions of Malaysians in the country. “I see a lot of improvement from my last visit three years ago, and hopefully it will continue to improve,” he told Bikyamasr.com. The UAE has a population of 1.2 million while the number of foreign workers in the country is five million. The officials also looked into how to boost education, especially higher education opportunities for workers and their families living in the UAE. “Currently, there is an MoU for higher education with the UAE but it has yet to be finalised. We discussed the MoU pertaining to education at the secondary and primary schools stage in Malaysia,” Muhyiddin continued. “When the MoU is prepared later, we will specify the scope and fields of cooperation such as teacher training, co-curriculum and raising the standard of our education and learning,” he was reported as saying. Even still, Dabat said Malaysian workers, both labor and maids, are likely to find the UAE a better opportunity in the Gulf region than neighboring countries. “There are problems here in the UAE, especially for female workers, but in comparison, I think the UAE is doing a solid effort to make safety a priority.”
