Commentary: Australia's new visa programme spooks Malaysia

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Malaysia is facing its own agricultural workforce crisis and plans to replace foreign plantation workers with local labour, and Australia's schemes complicates things, says this observer.

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And because the Australian programme offers a possible route for ASEAN nationals to secure permanent residency and citizenship, the government is worried about losing key agricultural workers.

Australia's new programme will ensure that foreign nationals have full labour rights and access to social protection provisions. The Malaysian government's recent flip-flop on migration control policy also highlights a deeper structural challenge: The lack of a political consensus regarding the country's own large population of migrant workers.

Senior officials justified the decision on the grounds that Malaysians are unwilling to enter the sector because of its unfavourable working conditions.The United States government late last year banned imports from Malaysia's Sime Darby Plantation, one of the world's largest palm oil producers, citing concerns about the use of forced labour.

Most of the country's farmers are in the bottom 40 per cent of the income distribution, and many live in poverty. Moreover, a significant share of employers are not complying with the country's minimum wage legislation.

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