Daily News Editorial

A salute to “Rata Viruvo”

02 February 2017

More than two million Sri Lankans are living abroad, of which around 1.5 million are working in regions and countries such as the Middle East, South Korea, Italy, Hong Kong and Singapore. They are expatriates who have gone abroad on a temporary basis and retain their Sri Lankan citizenship.

They regularly send funds back to their families in Sri Lanka. This has become the biggest foreign exchange earning avenue for the country, beating traditional exports and tourism. In fact, foreign remittances reached a record high last year with a total of Rs 1,054.5 billion being sent to the country by Sri Lankans working abroad.

This is an 11.11 percent increase from 2015 where the country earned Rs.949 billion in foreign remittances, according to the Ministry of Foreign Employment. Remittances now make up the single largest earner of foreign exchange into the country and in 2015 it comprised 66.56 percent of all foreign exchange earnings. This is a great achievement, but there is still room for improvement.

The authorities must be commended for their efforts to ensure that foreign job seekers go through the proper channels. It is only then that they can step in if the job contract is not honoured properly or various problems arise at the other end. The Foreign Employment Bureau’s booth at the Bandaranaike International Airport (temporarily closed till April 6 due to airport repairs) is a good idea, because it helps identify anyone who has not followed the due registration process. It can seem like a hassle to travellers going on visitor visas to Middle East countries, but there is a need to identify and have a database of those going abroad for employment.

Tough action should be taken against rogue employment agencies which dupe job seekers as well as government agencies by providing false information. A list of approved job agents (as well as blacklisted ones) should be published in the newspapers in all three languages, the same way the Central Bank publishes a list of approved banks and financial institutions. Fortunately, authorities have been able to weed out many of the offending agencies.

The authorities should explore the possibility of sending only skilled workers, male or female. Although training is given to prospective domestic workers on some aspects of their job, it does not seem to be sufficient. They should identify jobs available for skilled persons and try to direct more people towards them. More training opportunities should be provided for those willing to learn a new skill, say, welding or repairing cars.

Language is another barrier that should be overcome. South Korea demands that everyone who comes there for work has a sufficient knowledge of their native language. Although there is no such rule in the Middle East, at least a rudimentary knowledge of Arabic will not go waste. Learning the host country’s main language should be made compulsory for all foreign job applicants – for example for Saudi Arabia it should be Arabic.

The overwhelming majority of foreign job seekers are women, which does create various problems in families and the entire society. The SLBFE and our missions abroad must negotiate more openings for our males in the Middle East and elsewhere. If we can send more skilled male workers and professionals such as engineers abroad, the country will earn more foreign exchange as they are better paid.

It is also time to end the over-reliance on the Middle East for foreign employment. Our authorities should explore job markets in many other developed and even emerging countries. The pay and facilities are much better in these countries. If more jobs are secured in developed countries, the authorities will be able to resolve another issue at least to some extent: illegal migration. If rich countries can open up their employment markets to the developing world, at least for those jobs which may not be so appealing to the domestic population, it could go a long way towards addressing the illegal migration issue. Governments should work closely with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in this regard.

Moreover, any new agreement signed with a host country must include built-in safeguards for protecting our citizens in any eventuality including harassment by employers, non-payment of salaries, denial of rights and arbitrary arrest and court cases. There should be a mechanism to provide immediate assistance to any Sri Lankan worker facing legal or other difficulties in a foreign land.

There should be more recognition and facilities for expatriate workers who toil for years to enrich their Motherland, beyond calling them “Rata Viruvo” (Foreign Employment Heroes). Even after working abroad for 10- years, the maximum duty free allowance they get is just US$ 1750 which is just about enough to buy a few household electronics and appliances. Expatriates who have worked abroad at least for 10 years at a stretch should be given a duty free permit to purchase at least a small city car. That is perhaps an apt gift for these Sri Lankans who give up the best years of their lives to earn for the country.