Abstract

The influx of immigrants into Malaysia has been extraordinary in recent years. Their contributions to the physical development of this country have most likely been underpaid, undermined, and manipulated by private employers. This paper analyzes the labor law in Malaysia that grants more authority and security to private employers than to workers and their well being. The provisions in the Employment Act of 1955 limit immigrant workers from being defined and protected under this law. This study is qualitative in nature and uses content analysis to address the legal limitations, and an exploratory interview conducted randomly with forty (40) legal Indonesian immigrants to get some insights from legal immigrants’ perspectives. As a result, this paper shares finding on the provisions in labor law, the limits of statutory language and definitions, the ineffective enforcement, and the underpinning problems that continuously make immigrant workers a deprived minority.

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