Region’s Migrants Struggle with Job Losses, Hunger Caused by COVID-19

Updated at 5:21 p.m. ET on 2020-04-16

Migrant workers in Asia are bearing the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic lockdown in the region as they lose jobs, run out of food or even succumb to the contagious disease.

Governments appear to be concerned as many of these workers are sole bread-winners of their families living in Indonesia, Bangladesh and other labor-exporting countries.

During a special online meeting with his Southeast Asian counterparts to discuss regional efforts to combat COVID-19, Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo spoke up for migrant workers affected by the pandemic.

The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc agreed later on Tuesday to ensure a social safety net for their countries’ most vulnerable people. But they but did not mention migrants in a joint statement issued after their meeting and a similar online meeting with officials from Japan, South Korea and China.

“I appreciate the good cooperation among Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore to protect migrant workers,” Jokowi said during the meeting.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi pointed out that nearly 7 million workers migrate among ASEAN nations, calling them the heart of “our community building process.”

“As each ASEAN country adopts their own national measures to contain COVID-19, we must not lose sight of our commitment to assisting and protecting our nationals, particularly the vulnerable ones, in other ASEAN countries,” Retno wrote in an op-ed published in the Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

“With more than 1 million Indonesians working in Singapore and Malaysia, I have been in close contact with my counterparts to ensure the protection of our migrant workers in their respective countries,” she wrote.

Throughout the region, migrants are facing tough times coping with the COVID-19 outbreak, workers and NGOs that advocate for them say.

In Thailand, Nich Wan, a Cambodian from Battambang, who had worked at a construction site and runs a small grocery business north of Bangkok, said he was stuck in place with little income from his business and no construction work.

“I could not make enough money with little sales as COVID rages on and I have to stay here. I thought I could go home during Songkran [the Thai New Year], but the border was shut down,” Nich told BenarNews.

Bangladeshi Abdul Salam, 47, who has been working in Malaysia for five years, recently took a job at a hardware store where he was paid 25 ringgit ($5.75) a day. A week later, the government imposed its movement control order (MCO), a partial lockdown on industries and services except for those listed as essential.

The MCO extension through April 28 has caused him to fear he will not have money for food. He is spending as little as possible and, like his 15 housemates, eats once a day.

“I asked for a 500 ringgit ($115) advance from my boss at the beginning of the MCO as I needed to send money home. I sent most to my family in Bangladesh, leaving me with a small amount to spend,” he told BenarNews, adding that he and his housemates had chipped in three to five ringgit (69 cents to $1.16) to buy food supplies.

NGOs reach out

Siti Nursuraya Ali, the founder of Malaysian-based NGO Anak Kami, has been working with the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur to provide aid to Indonesian migrants, and had hoped to have a similar role with Bangladeshis.

“We tried to engage with the Bangladesh embassy but they were not very cooperative, at least to us,” she told BenarNews. “They wanted a database from us but did not want to give us proper documentation for us to help.”

Indonesians in Mindanao, in the southern Philippines, have appealed for food assistance from the government in Jakarta, the foreign ministry said.

“There are 3,000 Indonesian citizens in the southern Philippines. The Indonesian consul general in Davao City is trying to reach out to the most vulnerable of them,” said Judha Nugraha, director for protection of Indonesians overseas at the foreign ministry. “The mosque at the consulate general in Davao has handed out cash and staples to Indonesians in nine areas of the southern Philippines.”

Meanwhile, officials with the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) said they were seeking government assistance in aiding refugees and asylum seekers who have been affected by the Movement Control Order.

Suhakam pointed to a government pledge that no one would be left behind as part of its economic stimulus package in response to the pandemic.

On March 27, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced a stimulus package that allocated $29.6 billion for public welfare, $23.1 billion to support businesses and $460 million to bolster the economy, under what it dubbed as “The People-Centric Economic Stimulus Package.” Since then, it has allocated another $2.3 billion to help small businesses.

“Allocations should be made to assist and provide for the basic needs of the refugee and asylum seekers community. This includes funds for temporary shelter for those facing eviction by landlords,” the statement said.

In Thailand, the majority of almost 3 million migrants from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar work in factories, construction site, eateries, department stores and fisheries in Bangkok and its adjoining provinces, according to rights groups.

Many lost their jobs after the Bangkok metropolitan administration and provinces ordered non-essential businesses closed on March 22. More jobs were lost when Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha issued an emergency decree and night-time curfew to curb the virus spread.

The government recently launched a $58 billion (1.9 trillion baht) stimulus package, but it does not include aid for migrant workers.

To make matters worse, some migrants who were laid off did not receive compensation owed to them under the law, rights workers told BenarNews.

“We don’t know exactly how many migrant workers left the country and how many remain here,” Patima Tungpuchayakul, director of the Labor Rights Promotion Network (LPN) told BenarNews. “The government doesn’t either and it is asking about the number as well.”

Government social security officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Assistance for returnees

According to NGO officials on Indonesia, citizens who have returned from jobs overseas face similar needs amid the pandemic.

Nearly 33,000 workers had returned from Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan by the end of March, according to the Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Agency (BP2MI).

“We want to provide guarantees to migrant workers because they are foreign exchange heroes,” Benny Ramdhani said after being sworn in as the BP2MI chief by Widodo on Wednesday.

Bangladesh, which is not a member of ASEAN, has been dealing with its own influx of citizens who have been sent home from foreign nations – including many who had been jailed for overstaying visas.

The Bangladesh state-run news agency BSS reported that 366 Bangladeshis, mostly migrant workers and some stranded travelers, returned from Saudi Arabia on a special chartered flight Wednesday night.

“Those people boarded the flight after a health check and none of them were COVID-19 positive,” Golam Moshi, Bangladesh ambassador to Saudi Arabia, told BenarNews.

He said 15 Bangladeshis infected by the coronavirus had died in Saudi Arabia.

The United Arab Emirates has provided a list of more than 200 Bangladeshi workers who had been in their jails, Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen told BenarNews.

“We are examining whether they are genuinely Bangladeshi nationals.”

Syed Saiful Haque, chief of the WARBE Development Foundation, an NGO dedicated to the welfare of expatriate workers, said at least 250,000 Bangladeshis from different countries had returned home on their own or had been deported because of the pandemic in host countries in the Middle East as well as in Malaysia and Italy.

“Of course, the coronavirus causes a crisis in the host countries, but sending foreign workers back is unfair because these migrant workers hugely contributed to their economy,” Abdul Momen said.

Last year, Bangladeshi migrant workers sent back $15.5 billion (1.3 trillion taka) to their families, according to government estimates.

Those who have returned are receiving a stipend and are eligible for government loans, Expatriate Welfare Minister Imran Ahmad told BenarNews.

“Every returnee will get 5,000 taka ($59) upon arrival at an airport. The family members of an expatriate worker who died of coronavirus will get 300,000 taka ($3,541),” he said.

“We will give each of the workers a loan ranging from 500,000 taka ($5,902) to 700,000 taka ($8,263) if they invest in economic activities especially in the agriculture sector,” Ahmad said.

Armies of workers

According to Haque of WARBE, the number of Bangladeshi migrants working overseas, including undocumented workers is close to 10 million worldwide.

That figure is about the same as the army of overseas workers from the Philippines, a sector that has also been heavily affected by the virus. Many of these Filipinos and Filipinas work abroad as domestic servants, service sector workers and seamen.

Joanna Concepcion, chair of Migrante International which looks out for the welfare of Philippine overseas workers, said many more workers had lost their jobs because of COVID-19, and that their expected return home was likely to impact the economy.

“Over 400,000 OFWs [Overseas Foreign Workers] are expected to return home in the coming months due to COVID-19,” she said.

Latest statistics from the Philippine foreign office show that currently there are 736 Filipinos working abroad known to have been infected with the virus, and 88 deaths so far. They are spread to about 41 countries and regions around the world.

Manila, at the same time, has not stopped workers from leaving, especially those who already have contracts. The foreign office, in fact, has said that it would not stop Philippine nurses and health workers from leaving to help other countries fight the pandemic.

Ronna Nirmala in Jakarta, Nisha David in Kuala Lumpur, Nontarat Phaicharoen in Bangkok, Kamran Reza Chowdhury and Jesmin Papri in Dhaka, and Jason Gutierrez in Manila contributed to this report.

CORRECTION: An earlier version misidentified the embassy that NGO Anak Kita works with to provide aid to immigrants.