An Integrated Study of Well-Being Among Muslim Migrant Workers in Peninsular Malaysia Oil Palm Plantation

In 2021, almost 391,000 migrant workers were employed in oil palm plantations in Malaysia and out of this total, 74% or 289,340 were from Indonesia. The majority of them were from Indonesia and Bangladesh, Muslim countries. The influx of migrant workers is greatly contributed by the perception of local workers that this is a 3D sector - Dirty, Dangerous and Difficult. Despite gaining economic benefits to motivate them, recent reports by several international organizations have alleged that this sector engaged in labour exploitation, such as forced labour. They were alleged to be exploited due to several reasons, such as vulnerability, deception, and debt bondage. Due to these reasons, their well-being is risked of being jeopardised. Therefore, this study was based on exploring the well-being of Muslim migrant workers in oil palm plantations. The study sought to understand the indicators of Islamic and conventional well-being and
conclusively developed an integrated model of well-being to understand the quality of life among Muslim migrant workers. The tools employed for data collection in this study included an extensive study of the existing literature review, reviewing previous studies, experts’ interviews, and migrant workers’ interviews. Non-probability sampling was used as the basis for selecting participants and collaborating with oil palm employers. The findings indicated that several indicators were vital in determining the well-being of migrant workers. The indicators were income and wealth, work and job quality, housing, health, knowledge and skills, environmental quality, subjective wellbeing, safety, work-life balance and social connection. Apart from these indicators, other prominent well-being indicators, such as workers’ rights (freedom of association, freedom of movement, welfare (treatment of workers, and financial aid) and religiosity
and spirituality also rank as vital factors that influenced their well-being. These findings enable the list of indicators to be more comprehensive and relevant to the actual situation of migrant workers. This study has opened up multiple opportunities to seek relevant indicators that are tailored to the nature of the subject matter. Therefore, this would ensure that any segment of society, whether minority or majority is being evaluated thoroughly to enable different strategies to be formulated by the relevant parties to cater to their well-being needs.