Migtech, fintech and fair migration in Malaysia: addressing the protection gap between migrant rights and labour policies

This paper suggests that digitalisation fills the protection gap between labour policies and practices on migrant rights. Digital technologies have shaped how the Malaysian state views its migrant protection policy. Malaysia has tapped into the potential of migration technology (migtech) and financial technology (fintech) to address various challenges faced in its labour migration governance. Malaysia, a migrant-receiving country in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has improved its migrant protection policy by digitalising migration management governance, wage payments, and financial services for migrant workers. This paper thus contributes to ongoing debates on fair migration by looking at how technology interventions could bridge the long-standing protection gap resulting from states’ institutional limitations, defective migration systems, unethical recruitment by intermediaries, and implementation gaps (i.e. discrepancies between labour legislation and implementation by state and non-state actors). Digitalisation addresses migrant protection gaps through preventing unethical recruitment, offsetting barriers to regular migration, monitoring labour law infringements, and ensuring employer compliance with immigration and labour laws.