12 eateries in Penang shut down – so much for xenophobia

Many Malaysians have this perception that eating places staffed by foreign workers are less hygienic.

But this operation in Penang, which saw 12 eating places shut down, showed that it was the majority of local workers who were the problem.

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State Health Committee chairman Dr Afif Bahardin said operators need to be vigilant in ensuring the cleanliness of the premises and that the food handlers they employed were protected from diseases.

He said a total of 136 people, which included 94 foreigners were checked if they were given typhoid jabs.

“A majority of the foreigners had fulfilled the requirement.

“Instead, it was a majority of the locals employed who did not get the typhoid jabs. This is a problem.

“It means that our own citizens did not act responsibly,” he said.

So it was the locals who were mainly the problem.

It is the same with crime. Some of us think that areas with large numbers of foreign workers are more prone to crime and social problems; therefore migrant workers are best segregated from the rest of the populations. But a couple of years ago, a top police officer said that statistics showed Malaysians rather than foreigners were the main offenders.

Speaking to reporters at KL Sentral after an awards ceremony on Friday, the Deputy Inspector-General of Police said Malaysians were still the main offenders.

“The highest contributors for crime are locals. However, there are also migrant workers who are involved in crimes such as robberies, house break-ins, prostitution and the like.

When asked if the influx of foreign workers would increase the crime index, Noor Rashid said yes.

“However, locals are still the largest contributor of crime,” he explained.

But still xenophobic attitudes to foreign workers persist, and we can see that in efforts to build separate migrant workers’ housing away from the rest of the population.