Migrants: Instead of screaming ‘army’, Radzi should go after the powerful

Radzi Jidin wants soldiers deployed to arrest undocumented migrants and clear immigration depots through mass deportations.

But before we send in the army, we should ask: how does Malaysia produce irregular migration in the first place?

Let’s start with recruitment. While our law caps placement fees at one month’s wage, which is RM1,700, Bangladeshi workers routinely pay recruitment fees of between RM20,000 and RM30,000. That is nearly 12–17 times the legal limit, forcing workers to overstay to recoup their payment.

The 2026 US Trafficking in Persons Report flags that not a single employment agency in Malaysia was prosecuted under the Private Employment Agencies Act between 2025 and 2026.

More troublingly, it identifies official complicity as a significant concern. Even Radzi has acknowledged that civil servants assist traffickers.

So why are we proposing to send soldiers after the workers? Why aren’t we going after those who profit from and sustain this system?

Recruitment agents who impose crippling fees, employers who exploit undocumented labour, and officials who enable trafficking are the problem.

Deploy the army? Then deploy it against the employers, including GLCs, that knowingly hire undocumented workers. Deploy it against recruitment cartels that manufacture debt bondage, and against corrupt officials who enable labour trafficking.

If we are serious about reducing irregular migration, we must dismantle the lucrative recruitment-fee system that generates mega profits at the expense of migrant workers and perpetuates the cycle of debt bondage. Enforce a mandatory employer-pays principle and sign binding bilateral labour agreements with labour-sending countries.

MPs like Radzi need to understand the issues they speak about instead of playing to the gallery. Migrant workers are NOT the root cause of this crisis.

Greed, corruption, exploitative recruitment and unscrupulous employers are. Yet we continue to blame the workers while allowing the people who profit from exploitation to operate with impunity.

Malaysia has repeatedly faced international scrutiny and embarrassment over its poor labour migration governance. We simply cannot deport our way out of a system that we have failed to govern. So stop scapegoating migrant workers and start holding the powerful to account.

Charles Santiago is the former MP for Klang.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of MalaysiaNow.