Foreign workers in Malaysia have always been involved in issues such as social problems, eliminating the local job market, crimes, diseases, and others. However, there is one inevitable issue experienced by the foreign workers while working in Malaysia which is repression. Repression among foreign workers is real and still happening until today. Even worse, repression happens to the legal foreign workers in Malaysia. Thus, this study aimed to analyze whether the foreign workers are being repressed in terms of safety, rights, and wage repression in Malaysia. This study adopted a qualitative approach by using semi structured in-depth interview. Ten participants enrolled in this study comprised of legal foreign workers in Selangor across multiple job sectors (manufacturing, plantation, agriculture, construction, services, and domestic maids). The findings revealed that the foreign workers were mainly repressed in terms of rights followed by safety and wages. Every foreign worker deserves to be treated equally similar to the local workers while working in Malaysia. Besides, incidences of repression towards foreign workers were mainly acted out by their own respective employers, local authorities (police and immigration officers) and generally, the public. The authorities play a crucial role in securing the foreign workers rights and to prevent repression. Last but not least, the repression among foreign workers still exists even after they are given legalization. Thus, the legalization programme was terminated by the government due to its ineffectiveness in reducing repression towards foreign workers even after being legalized. The results of the study suggested that the roles played by the policy makers and implementers need to be strengthened in order to reduce the repression by foreign workers in our country. This research also suggested that the employers need to go for training in order to well manage their foreign workers’ rights. It is hoped that this study can contribute to curb the repression and strengthen the legalization part for a better management of foreign workers. In conclusion, repression of foreign workers (whether they are legal or illegal) is an inevitable issue faced by many countries including Malaysia.
