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?
A factory manager allegedly forced a group of foreign workers to play “volleyball with stones” and those who refused were beaten with a stick.
The incident is said to have sparked a riot outside the factory in Kulai, Johor, this morning, which witnessed hundreds of enraged workers throwing stones and torching a car belonging to a management staff.
According to a source, who works in the area, the “stone volleyball” was punishment for workers who took part in a protest at a sister factory in Tebrau over the death of a fellow worker.
The worker had allegedly died after he was refused treatment. However, there is no other information on this case.
The riot, which started at 10am, lasted for more than an hour until it was diffused by the police Federal Reserve Unit (FRU).
Despite numerous attempts, Malaysiakini could not get comments from the management.
One staff member, who answered the call, said: “The company is closed today, call tomorrow… call tomorrow, I don’t know anything… call tomorrow and speak to the manager.”
Meanwhile, The Star Online quoted a representative of the workers, Kishor Rai, 23, claiming that the company abused the workers, mostly Nepalese, on daily basis and they could not take it anymore.
“When we make mistakes, they hit us and this is just unfair.
“In fact, due to an earlier disagreement, the management even refused to send us our usual bus and we were forced to walk for about one hour to get to work,” Kishor is quoted as saying.
KAMLES KUMAR is a trainee journalist at Malaysiakini
Source: Malaysiakini
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