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?
Responding to a complaint by one of the workers, enforcement chief Datuk Ishak
Mohamed said his officers had asked the 47 men for money as some did not have
slippers and could not board the flight.
<p>"Yes, my men asked for money but only to buy slippers as seven of them
were barefoot and the airline has a policy that passengers must at least wear
slippers to board the plane," he said.</p>
<p>Ishak said his officers needed RM78 to buy the slippers at the airport but
could only get RM75 from the men.</p>
<p>"My men forked out the difference. Although the amount is small, I am
proud of them," he said.</p>
<p>On complaints that the Indian nationals were handcuffed, Ishak said this was
a security measure.</p>
<p>"We could only send four Immigration officers to escort the men. To take
care of such a big group, there was no choice but to have them handcuffed,"
he said.</p>
<p>Ishak was responding to allegations by one of the men, who wished to be known
only as Kingley, that they were treated like criminals when they were deported.</p>
<p>Kingley, who called The Malay Mail from the airport, said: "We are being
handcuffed like criminals. The officers also asked us for money but we don’t
know what for. We still don’t know what our offences are."</p>
<p>Kingley also claimed that they were given only RM12,000, half the amount owed
by their employer.</p>
<p>The 47 men were among 61 rounded up by Rela in front of the Indian High Commission
in Jalan Duta on Feb 28.</p>
<p>They left for Chennai on an Air Lanka flight at 9.25am yesterday. The rest
of the men had been sent home earlier in the month.</p>
<p>The 61 were among 171 Indian nationals who camped in front of the Indian High
Commission from Feb 22 to 28 to seek help from their Government after they claimed
to have been duped by agents who brought them into the country last year.</p>
<p>
<font color="#0000FF"><b>Three firms under probe</b></font></p>
<p>PUTRAJAYA: Three companies are under investigation by the Immigration Department
to determine whether they had the relevant permits to employ the 61 Indian workers
deported recently.</p>
<p>Immigration enforcement chief Datuk Ishak Mohamed said the men had valid travel
documents and were recruited by three companies in Johor.</p>
<p>"We are checking whether the companies complied with the law," he
said.</p>
<p>The men were detained for a month at the immigration detention centre in Lenggeng,
Negri Sembilan.</p>
<p>"Initially they were remanded for 14 days, but when their passports were
verified, we detained them under Section 35 of the Immigration Act to enable
us to send them home safely."</p>
<p>
<font color="#0000FF"><b>Firms on Indian mission’s black list</b></font></p>
<p>KUALA LUMPUR: The Indian High Commission has blacklisted three Malaysian companies
which employed the 61 workers deported yesterday and earlier this month.</p>
<p>They join a list of 150 companies barred from employing workers from India.</p>
<p>Its first secretary, R.V. Ramanan, said the High Commission had mediated between
the workers and the companies and found that the men were not paid the wages
dictated in their contracts.</p>
<p>"Nonetheless, the High Commission managed to obtain RM1,000 as compensation
and a little bit more for the workers’ airfare to return home. In total,
we managed to get RM25,000 but some of the money was used to buy their air tickets,"
he said.</p>
<p>The employers, he added, had argued that they were not liable for the airfare
as the workers had walked out before the contractual period ended.</p>
<p>"However, we have studied the case and found it fit to blacklist the three
companies as they had withheld the men’s salaries," he said.</p>
<p>Ramanan said they would continue to blacklist companies which mistreat workers
from India.
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