In May, traders at the wet market received notice not to hire any foreigners. — Picture by Shafwan Zaidon
He would keep about RM800 to pay for necessities and send the rest to his parents, wife and two children back home, enough to pay for their needs with a little set aside for a rainy day. However, now, their roles are reversed. “My family had to borrow the money they sent me,” said Nuraalam, a 28-year old migrant worker from Bangladesh.
With rising unemployment among locals, government officials also have stated their preference for Malaysians to work at wet markets. The latest report from the Department of Statistics Malaysia pegged the unemployment rate among Malaysians at 5 per cent.