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?
The workers, identified only as AH and MR, related their sufferings at the
hands of a labour outsourcing company to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia
(Suhakam) yesterday.
<p>"We want help. Please help us," the two workers told Suhakam Comissioner
Chew Siew Kioh at the commission’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.</p>
<p>It is said that former deputy home minister Megat Junid Megat Ayob is a shareholder
of the company.</p>
<p>“I was kept there for one month and 11 days and I was locked up, I could
not communicate with anybody. Some of us had mobile (phones) but the agent took
them away mobile,” said MR.</p>
<p>“They locked us up from the outside and didn’t allow us to come out.
After one month and 11 days, they gave us jobs. They didn’t give us proper
food, they only fed us twice a day,” he added.</p>
<p>AH pointed to his bruised ear and with the help of a translator said he was
slapped repeatedly. He then pointed to his leg and said he was kicked as well.</p>
<p>The Bangladeshi, who was visibly upset, complained that his work and travel
documents were taken away from him.</p>
<p>“Our documents are important to us. If we don’t have those documents,
what are we going to do?” he said.</p>
<p>He then asked the Suhakam commissioner to help him get back the RM11,000 he
paid to the agent who arranged to get him a job in Malaysia.</p>
<p>Chew promised to raise the matter with the other commissioners.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, workers’ rights group Tenaganita director Irene Fernandez,
who took the two workers to Suhakam, said they hads been treated like prisoners.</p>
<p>She told reporters that when they went to the place where the workers were
being kept the day before, gangsters had surrounded their car and threatened
them.</p>
<p>On being asked by reporters how they managed to come out of their compound
today, the two workers simply responded: “We ran.”</p>
<p><b><font color="#800000">No need for such companies</font></b></p>
<p>Earlier, at a consultation titled ‘A new strategy in labour flexibilisation
and its impact on migrant workers’, Fernandez presented a report on her
fact finding mission called ‘outsourcing in labour trafficking in migrant
labour?’</p>
<p>She attributed the mission as arising from “concerns that large number
of migrant workers were being stranded with no work and no salaries.”</p>
<p>She said these migrant workers were recruited in Bangladesh and made to pay
a sum between RM6,000 to RM12,000 to come to Malaysia for a job.</p>
<p>They would then be asked to work for one to two weeks, following which there
would be no more employment.</p>
<p>“These outsourcing companies who bring in the Bangladeshi workers are
not being held accountable for their actions” said Fernandez.</p>
<p>She explained that the 223 outsourcing companies in Malaysia benefit from the
sum of money paid by the workers to come to Malaysia, but fail to provide proper
jobs or keep the workers in proper living conditions.</p>
<p>According to Fernandez, a Home Ministry official told her that he can only
take action on outsourcing companies "on an administrative level"
as that is only his scope of jurisdiction.</p>
<p>“However, in two months, a re-approval can be made,” she said, adding,
“That is exactly the problem.”</p>
<p>She explained that these companies are not being held accountable for their
actions and the only action that can be taken against them is to have their
licence revoked.</p>
<p>M Ramachelvam, chairman of the Bar Council ad hoc committee on the Immigration
Act, said the government should legislate a model contract which states the
responsibilities of the employers and employees.</p>
<p>“This should be enforceable for all migrant workers across the sectors,”
he added.</p>
<p>According to Fernandez, there is no need for outsourcing companies.</p>
<p>“They are just another layer to make money out of foreign workers,”
she said. </p>
<p>Fernandez and Ramachelvam expressed hope for a comprehensive policy to protect
the rights of these workers who currently total 60,000 in Malaysia according
to statistics from the Home Ministry.</p>
<p><i>Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/69769</i>
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