When work in Malaysia is a con

Many foreign workers arrive in Malaysia only to be scammed out of pay and their passports and then being arrested for being 'undocumented' through no fault of their own. — AZHAR MAHFOF/The Star

It's horrifying the amount of injustice I see in Malaysia. I often read and hear about the rich and powerful evading the rule of law while vulnerable groups like the Orang Asli are denied basic justice and land rights. The most powerless of people get cheated frequently with little recourse, even thrown into jail despite committing no crime. Thousands of migrant workers here are living this travesty of justice.

The scenario typically unfolds like this. A young man in Bangladesh is lured by promises of high wages in Malaysia by an agent. To pay the RM20,000 agency fee, he is pushed into debt. When he gets to Malaysia, there is no job, no money, and substandard shelter and food (if any). Stranded and unable to pay mounting debts, or to return home as his passport has been taken, he flees to seek justice – only to land in jail for being undocumented.

Thousands face this situation, and reportedly 1,000 Bangladeshis languish in prison. This is unconscionable. Many were “scammed, exploited, and extorted” when recruited to come to Malaysia, said Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng in a recent statement. “Many of them even sold their property to pay their way here. But they ended up being placed behind bars for crimes they did not commit.”

Among the many duped Bangladeshis was Shofiqul Islam. According to the Selangor Anti-Human Trafficking Council, the 33-year-old died after six months of living in poor conditions at a workers’ hostel in Sepang, Selangor, while trying to return home.

One high profile case involved 751 Bangladeshi workers in Pengerang, Johor, held with little food and water. When 171 of them walked 10km to a police station to report their plight, they were arrested, drawing public criticism (“Foreigners march to police station to complain about agent, get hauled up by Immigration Dept instead”, The Star, Dec 25, 2023).

Last month, in a significant step forward, an industrial court ordered the recruitment company to pay RM1mil in backdated wages to those workers, although this was below half that demanded, and the amount excluded compensation. Still, this was better than the ruling finding 200 jobless workers were not being cheated despite evidence of company documents showing fake jobs.

Human rights groups and workers' unions say such recruitment fraud cases amount to human trafficking, for which Malaysia could face international trade sanctions.

The mistreatment itself is terrible. Last month, the authorities freed over 90 Bangladeshi workers crammed into a flat above a shoplot in Cheras, Selangor, after a labour rights activist highlighted their plight. The workers said they were denied food for four days and had to share one toilet.

The Home Affairs and Human Resources ministers have pledged to reform the foreign worker intake system and act against errant recruitment syndicates. Bangladesh is also working to ensure informal subagents can no longer evade legal scrutiny, an MP said.

The government must take strong action against guilty agents, employers, and officials. It was reported that the employer involved in the Pengarang case would be summoned by the Human Resources Ministry – but what has happened since? Has anyone even been charged?

Suhakam (the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia) said the employer and agents could be prosecuted as traffickers. And according to activists, the workers have yet to be paid as the court ordered, and most still have no jobs. Shouldn’t scammed workers be allowed to look for other jobs?

The Plantation and Commodities Minister has proposed that companies face a strict penalty, with fines up to RM30,000, for every foreign worker not employed after a month in Malaysia. Despite the current oversupply of workers (partly due to opaque recruiting processes), sectors such as the plantation industry have difficulties recruiting workers.

How did we end up with this unjust system that benefits recruiters and exploits workers, teeming with scams, fake documents, and corruption?

A 2019 report by an independent committee, previously confidential, blamed “corrupt practices”, the “most absurd” being contracts given to inexperienced firms with connections to politicians or government officials.

Human rights lawyer Charles Hector points to the “Contractor for Labour” (CFL) scheme, in which the government issues permits to contractors to recruit migrant workers. “They must get rid of it, because these contractors do not have work requiring workers,” Hector says. The contractors are actually “false” employers with no jobs; they just supply workers to “real” employers needing workers.

So, basically, rent-seeking.

The workers remain employees of the CFL, not their “real” workplace employer, who thus evades labour laws. The CFLs profit with every hour their recruits work, so workers are often made to work long hours. Hector says only employers with jobs really requiring migrant workers (and who cannot get locals) should get permits.

He also says anti-trafficking laws should be amended to protect victims. Currently, human trafficking victims can stay in the country only until investigations are completed. They are then sent back to their country of origin. As victims are crucial witnesses, their absence when the case finally makes it to court means traffickers will likely get off free or never even be charged. Thus, victims must be allowed to stay to fight their case and win compensation. Justice must be served.

Injustice breeds further injustice. That’s how we’ve ended up with this messy, mismanaged, unjust system that is rotten to the core. We need to overhaul it so foreign workers come here to fill employment gaps and not the pockets of greedy sharks.

Poverty alleviation NGO Hope Selangor is delivering food to Bangladeshi work scam victims; if you would like to help, email [e-mail] or call 012-907 6266.

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Human Writes columnist Mangai Balasegaram writes mostly on health but also delves into anything on being human. She has worked with international public health bodies and has a Masters in public health. Write to her at [e-mail]. The views expressed here are entirely the writer's own.