'Racist' to say migrant workers prone to social ills, Penang CM told

Susan LoonePublished: Jan 30, 2019 9:49 AM | Updated: Jan 31, 2019 9:07 AM

An activist has condemned Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow for reportedly saying that migrants should not live in residential neighbourhoods due to being prone to social ills.

According to social activist Stanley Sudhagaran, Chow's remarks appear "racist and xenophobic."

"I find it very disappointing as it comes from the chief of state," he told Malaysiakini...

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Stanley, you activist had hardly spoken out during BN days. Name sake you are an activist but realistically speaking you only blow horns, similar to those ‘talk three talk four’ unemployed vagabond over a cup of coffee at the mamak kedai. Get a proper job, too many of you ‘so called’ activists around.

Sherman Lau09:20 AM, 31 Jan 2019

At the end of the day the CM is sadly right. Please la, despite how badly and inhumane these champions of human rights, the factbof the matter is that these foreign workers still have a far better lifebthan in theirbown country.

Low Chen Hua06:24 AM, 31 Jan 2019

Stanley Sudhagaran must be holistic and consistent in his criticism. Malaysia never ratified ICERD to begin with thanks to Tun, PAS and UMNO and it is now an offence to discriminate a tenant by race but somehow legal when it comes to giving 10% discount and 100% quotas to Malays and Bumiputeras. Truth to be told, Malaysians are a confused lot. We are segregated by race from birth and for some, even the shadow of cross is a threat to their religion..

Nishan Petchayo06:00 AM, 31 Jan 2019

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Sherman Lau09:20 AM, 31 Jan 2019

Low Chen Hua06:24 AM, 31 Jan 2019

Nishan Petchayo06:00 AM, 31 Jan 2019

First you said that you don’t want the China enclave which had a dorm, lifts, food court et al for them in Kuantan. Now you say you want it in Penang. Can you please make up your minds.

unta03:05 AM, 31 Jan 2019

Dormitory with lifts, a food court, supermarket, mobile phone shop, internet services, prayer rooms, futsal court, gymnasium, volleyball and badminton courts and a sick bay. Such good facilities but still no human rights? Come on, do you ever see 40-50 foreign workers need to squeeze themselves into a normal terrace house? Be realistic, anyone who live in a student dorm will know there are rules like time curfew and alcohol banned, but they still can go out like usual and drink outside of the dorm. If this is so call no human right, then all the student dorm should be ban. Those so called activists, please live on earth, go and ask those foreign workers, do they want to squeeze in a terrible terrace houses with terrible living condition or live in this dorm. Letting foreign workers living freely doesn't mean this is human right, but you are just let them rot outside and sweep their real problem under the carpet.

05:47 PM, 30 Jan 2019

sudahlah sudhagaran , apa lah lu cakap.

YuChen Ooi03:01 PM, 30 Jan 2019

Talk nonsense. He has never stayed near a terrace house rented to 40 migrant workers... so he's an armchair commentator!

RaDioaCTiV 02:48 PM, 30 Jan 2019

Stanley Sudhagaran, address please less talk, will tell migrants that your place is available .

Yeoh Sin Tze02:27 PM, 30 Jan 2019

Stanley Sudhagaran should first go and stay in a house or apartment neighboured by houses / apartments used as foreign workers' hostels. Only then will he be qualified to comment on the issue. It's easy to be an armchair critic, but not easy to be right. Go and live among them for a year before commenting.

Chai Chia01:38 PM, 30 Jan 2019

It sounds racists but it is true to certain degree. This is especially true for workers from 3rd world countries. It's a fact also that there are difference in moral, etiquette, sensitivities and cultural norms that is fine in one society but is repulsive in another. Many Asians and westerners also caused discomfort to many Japanese because of Japanese refined culture in general. So it's a serious flaw in definition in labelling racist comment!

fkw12:09 PM, 30 Jan 2019

Neve read news? Most countries including our neighbour Singapore do not allow foreigners who are non professionals to live in clusters within their residential areas. This is to prevent a clash of cultures causing unease to the residents and result in social ills. So don't just oppose without getting facts right.

Augustine Paranabas11:36 AM, 30 Jan 2019

You dont expect such remarks from an enlightened leader. Migrants have dignity just like you and I. If you do not want imigrants create laws to stop them them from coming to Malaysia. But dont abuse them when they are in your country. Social ills are created by poor infrastructure. The support systems for these expatriates are perhaps ill defined. Correct these.

madeline lee10:46 AM, 30 Jan 2019

Why the hel! do we need to have 8 million foreign workers, both legal and illegal, in a population of maybe 22 million? That is like 30%? Look, if we pay a foreign worker $1,000 pm for work that a Malaysian will only do for $1500, that means the employer does save $500 monthly (assuming he also has to pay EPF, Socso and medical insurance for foreigners) But the employer probably has to provide cheap housing and transport, pay for annual work permits, Fomema medical exams and visa renewals and there is the cost of sourcing the foreigners from overseas. So his net "profit" might be only $250 pm each. Meanwhile that foreigner repatriates $800 pm of his pay back home, since his fed and housed by the boss. So Malaysia only retains $200 to contribute to the local economy. The Government also benefits from the visa fees, work permits etc that they impose, and former regime Ministers used to set up companies to recruit foreign labor, reaping big profits for themselves. Meanwhile eligible Malaysians lose employment opportunities just becos the pay is too low. This whole vicious self-serving charade must stop now! Just impose a deadline that employers must not recruit more than 10% foreigners by 2020,say. Or something like that.

Dahari Jol10:43 AM, 30 Jan 2019

Enough of Barrack Obama's political correctness. Just look at the Nigerians in the country. Majority are engaged in drug trafficking and money laundering. Western countries are getting choked with this progressive nonsense from Africans and Arabs. Barrack Obama fooled the westerners with his grand speeches about progressiveness. We don't need any of that nonsense here. We have our problems to deal with.

tan boon poh10:16 AM, 30 Jan 2019

now penang government getting non penangnites to buy penang affordable homes.

Az Bin Abd Samad10:13 AM, 30 Jan 2019

In fact, the entry of foreign workers creates social ills. This has been well documented. For example, illegal immigrants live in sin with local women and have children. In the absence of marriage certificates, that sets off a chain reaction.

kay koh10:01 AM, 30 Jan 2019