Malaysia is one of Asia's biggest employers of foreign labour. But recently, cases of deaths, abuse and forced labour have come to light. What is going on? Who is protecting these migrant workers?
Their recruiting agency, Golden Arrow, yesterday handed them 11 cheques —
Tk 84,000 each — while the government gave assurance that the balance of their
cost, Tk 2.3 lakh each, would be arranged by October 3.
<p>The cheques were handed over to the job seekers yesterday afternoon at the
office of Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training at Kakrail in the capital.</p>
<p>The 11 job seekers are the first batch among 80 who staged hunger strike on
the Bangladesh high commission premises in Kuala Lumpur from September 10 to
September 15 demanding six months’ unpaid salary as their recruiter, Malaysian
outsourcing company PTC Asia Pacific, failed to provide them jobs.</p>
<p>Abdul Matin Chowdhury, acting secretary of expatriates’ welfare and overseas
ministry, flew to Malaysia recently and promised compensation of Tk 2.3 lakh
for each job seeker upon their arrival at ZIA.</p>
<p>After arriving at ZIA from Malaysia on the 25th, the 11 job seekers waited
there till Wednesday, but could not find any arrangement for their payment.
The job seekers then decided to stay at ZIA until they receive their compensation.</p>
<p>Acting Secretary Abdul Matin Chowdhury told The Daily Star yesterday that the
ministry would investigate the matter to find out exactly how much money each
job seeker had paid to their agency, Golden Arrow, as the agency is claiming
to have received only Tk 84,000 from each job seeker.</p>
<p>The job seekers said each of them had paid Tk 2.3 lakh to Golden Arrow for
a job in Malaysia.</p>
<p>Joynal Abedin, one of the returned job seekers, said the acting secretary of
expatriates’ welfare and overseas ministry has asked them to present witnesses
or sub-agents of the recruiting agency to prove their claim of Tk 2.3 lakh payment
to the recruiting agency.<br>
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<i>Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=5781</i>
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