India's software pros face global ire

Date: Tuesday, March 18, 2003 2:10 PM

H-1B and JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

Mar 13, 2003

http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/EC13Df03.html

South Asia

India's software pros face global ire

By Indrajit Basu

KOLKATA - There were around 270 of them, men and women. They were
roused from bed between 6 am and 8 am last Sunday, hustled by armed
Malaysian policemen out of their posh apartment block in Kuala Lumpur's
upmarket Brickfield to a neighboring police station, handcuffed and
made to squat in a motor shed for almost 12 hours. They could not make
phone calls, nor were they given any reason why they had been arrested.

No, the arrested were not illegal immigrants. Nor were they criminals.
They were well-educated Indian software professionals working for
companies registered in Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor, the
information technology project zone running from Kuala Lumpur to the
new development of Cyberjaya, a 45-minute drive from the capital. They
were in the country at the invitation of the Malaysian government,
which, like many IT-human resource scarce governments of the world,
sought help from India's now-famed IT pool of talent.

"There were around 270 of us, and we have already got the signatures of
178, and we'll get the rest by tomorrow," said Dilip, an IT
professional who presented a petition to the Indian High Commission on
behalf of all those detained, after being released later that night.

Later, the detainees recounted how the police had burst into their
homes and herded them to a nearby police station, from where some were
taken to jail. "We were handcuffed and made to kneel or sit in the
police station car park and our passports and visas were seized," said
Nagaraju Cheekoti, an IT professional working for WWI Malaysia. "Some
of us were slapped and kicked."

Some said that they were stripped to their underwear and heckled inside
the station. Some also complained that when their passports were
returned many (about 70 of them) showed signs of being tampered with,
photographs on them scratched, and data on the visa page rubbed out.
The police also sent 14 of the men to jail, photographed them with
assigned numbers, and treated them like criminals.

Police officials at the Brickfield station refused to speak. But
according to the Press Trust of India - the Indian news agency - a
Malaysian police officer said later that some 164 Indians had been
picked up after the raid on a building and close to 100 were
immediately released on the intervention of the high commission and
proof that they had valid visas.

Although most had been rescued from detention by the Indian high
commissioner at the end of the day, the incident has shaken India's IT
community to the core. "We don't want to stay in this country if we are
treated like this," said Nagaraju Cheekoti. "We have come here at the
invitation of Malaysian companies, but we don't feel safe anymore."

But a likely exodus of Indian IT professionals appears to be the least
of the problems that this incident has created for Malaysia. The Indian
government is fuming, and the country's relationship with Malaysia has
turned decidedly frosty. "Such unacceptable action by Malaysian
authorities cannot but adversely affect our bilateral relations and
also badly dent Malaysia's image as a destination for IT professionals
and as a country which is keen to encourage foreign participation in
this and other sectors," said Navtej Sarna, foreign ministry spokesman.
The possibility of expelling the Malaysian envoy from Delhi is also not
being ruled out. Sarna said, "Depending on the clarification we
receive, we will decide on further action appropriately."

In Kuala Lumpur, Indian high commissioner Veena Sikri, too, expressed
outrage. "Computer specialists are the most sought after Indian
professional community, wanted in the US, the UK and Germany, and
they've been asked by Malaysian companies to work here, and now
Malaysia treats them like this," she said. "There is no justification
of the way our citizens were treated and there is a need to investigate
the matter."

Apart from the foreign office, the Indian IT industry, led by the
software industry lobby NASSCOM, reacted sharply to the incident,
describing it as unwarranted "mental harassment" of Indian IT
professionals. "This is an unfortunate act which maligns the dignity of
the individuals and the industry, and we are in touch with key
authorities to ensure the safety of Indian IT professionals," said
NASSCOM president Kiran Karnik.

Meanwhile, the message appears to have got home. Malaysia in its first
official reaction conveyed to India on Tuesday that it had taken
India's complaint "very seriously" and was "investigating" allegations
of high-handedness by the Malaysian police. "If it is true, it is
certainly very unfortunate; we will take actions and go to the bottom
of the issue," he said, adding, "The drive is not directed against
Indians. There is an ongoing campaign against illegal immigrants and
this could be a result of a few over enthusiastic officials," said
Malaysian entrepreneur development minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz.

The Malaysian IT community seemed embarrassed by the incidents. The
Malaysian Multimedia Super Corridor has written to NASSCOM saying that
such incidents are a one-off and that Indian-Malaysian IT relations are
on course.

The Malaysian opposition has taken the incidents seriously, too. A
Malaysian opposition leader and rights group urged acting Prime
Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to apologize to those Indian IT
professionals rounded up. "I would urge the acting prime minister to
make a formal apology in parliament," said Lim Kit Siang, chairman of
the Democratic Action Party.

Nevertheless, even if the huge population of Indian IT professionals
spread around the globe has taken this incident in their stride, for
them it isn't just "a simple case of mistaken identity". "Behind its
facade, this could be yet another example of the backlash Indian
high-tech workers have started facing in recent months," said Vinay
Kamath, a human resource consultants operating out of India as well as
the United States.

"Resentment from those [people] Indian software pros are replacing
globally with their lower salaries and superior talents has been rather
alarming lately," said Kamath. India, which has emerged as perhaps the
only destination for sourcing high-tech human resources, is known not
just for its cost effectiveness (30 percent of the global average) but
also for its high quality talent.

A few months back, the state of New Jersey in the United States, a
country that employs the largest number of Indian high-tech
professionals, moved a bill in its senate to block the state government
from moving IT outsourcing to India. Shortly afterwards, four more US
states, Missouri, Maryland, Wisconsin, and Connecticut - also announced
that they are considering similar legislation. Reportedly, The
Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, an organization of high-tech
workers formed to advocate improved benefits and workplace rights,
spearheaded these campaigns. American unions are also pushing
politicians to crack down on people entering the country on L-1 visas.
Such visas allow US-based companies to transfer key employees,
generally executives or managers, from a foreign corporation to a US
branch, parent, subsidiary or affiliated entity.

And about a fortnight back, a kind of backlash erupted in Britain as
well, when a section of British Telecom staff protested furiously
against the company's decision to move its call center operations to
India. Last week, the German government, too, decided to stop issuing
green cards to information technology professionals from July 31. The
decision is widely believed to be targeted at the influx of Indian IT
professionals there, and a move triggered by the downturn in Germany's
IT sector, which in turn is because of the slump in Europe's largest
economy that has caused many German software engineers to lose their
jobs. Green cardholders in Germany are entitled to social security
benefits for six months if they are unemployed, and are therefore a
cost to the government.

But in December, India's IT sector faced its worst embarrassment until
now when Arun Jain, chief of Polaris, one of the country's top software
services companies, was detained in Jakarta for several days in a move
initiated by an Indonesian bank, Bank Artha Graha. The bank said that
"Polaris had repeatedly and continuously failed to meet conditions of a
contract" between the two parties, but Polaris said, "the bank's
demands were unrealistic which resulted in bad blood".

()2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact
content@atimes.com for information on our sales and syndication
policies.)

Help to Keep ZaZona.com Online

Donate to the Cause at
http://www.zazona.com/Donations.htm
To Subscribe or Unsubcribe send an email to

Back to archives