How some foreign workers in Malaysia are (not) celebrating Hari Raya this year
. This year we’ll be happy to have rice and eggs,” he said, when met a few days before Raya.Shohel and his friends live above a shoplot in Petaling Jaya in what was once an office. The place is still full of old office furniture and has a leaking roof that looks like it is about to cave in at any moment; it is also connected by a narrow corridor, just 45 centimetres in width.
“When I arrived here, my father died. As the eldest, the onus now fell on me to look after the family and my four siblings. For Nasirudidin Saren, 24, Aidilfitri usually means an abundance of food. With no such delight this year, he asked if this is even a festive season. Shohel Mollah talking to computer science graduate Ahmmad Ali who now works as a cleaner. — Picture by Ahmad ZamzahuriHe lives with 11 others, four of them young students. Ahmmad said he could see the young men struggling during the lockdown.
The report said unofficial estimates of the total number of foreign workers tend to be much higher, ranging from 3.4 million to 5.5 million. A Parliament discussion in 2016 even suggested that there are two foreign workers for every five Malaysian citizens. “The previous years, we could visit our friends all over Kuala Lumpur after Hari Raya prayers. I could also visit my uncle in Selayang and other family members who have become citizens and permanent residents. Now it's hard as you cannot easily visit each other,” he toldSalleh, who has been working in factories and construction sites for the past 10 years, said most in the community experienced a loss of income during the lockdown, further adding to the sombre Hari Raya mood.
His friend Mustafa Safri, 30 said he is planning to video call his wife, son and brothers on the first day of Hari Raya.
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