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?
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<div align="right"><strong><font color="#666666">Bangladeshi workers, stranded
at Kuala Lumpur International Airport for weeks, are still waiting to
enter the Malaysian capital. Photo: STAR</font></strong></div>
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<p>After spending around Tk 2 to 2.5 lakh each for a job in Malaysia, the workers
are now uncertain about their future. <br>
<br>
Dr Mohammad Noor Ahmed, a public health specialist, during his six-hour transit
stop-over at KLIA en route to Dhaka, came across the stranded Bangladeshis on
August 31 evening in the KLIA arrival lounge.</p>
<p>"I could not quite understand why they [workers] were stranded. They said their
local agents did not come to the airport to receive them. The local agent there
told them that their Bangladeshi counterparts did not make payments," Dr Noor,
a health adviser for International Rescue Committee in Indonesia, told The Daily
Star yesterday. <br>
<br>
"Since I was curious about them, they shared some of their ordeals with me and
requested me to inform the authorities in Bangladesh of the matter," Dr Noor
added.<br>
<br>
Dr Noor Ahmed, who also worked at International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases
Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR, B) a few years back, said the Bangladeshis were
running short of money and they did not have any foods either.<br>
<br>
The Bangladeshis told Dr Noor that several groups of Bangladeshis had arrived
in Malaysia through various recruiting agencies. Those are Morning Sun Enterprise,
Shipu Overseas, Shikha Trade International, JR Aviation Services and Sunrise
International Limited.<br>
<br>
Some of them told him that they had been having nothing but water for the last
two or three days. "One worker said the local agent [of his group] at Kuala
Lumpur provided only one meal a day," he added.<br>
<br>
Many of them also became sick by the time I met them, Dr Noor said. <br>
<br>
When this correspondent contacted Sunrise International Limited, Mohammad Borhan
on behalf of the agency said Sunrise sent 37 workers on August 29 and the agency’s
Malaysian counterpart picked all of them up on the night of August 31.<br>
<br>
An employee at Morning Sun Enterprise told The Daily Star over telephone that
he was unable to provide much information about the issue since Mohammed Rokonzzaman,
managing partner of the agency, is now out of the country — in Malaysia.<br>
<br>
The other three recruiting agencies could not be reached.<br>
<br>
Recently, in a similar incident, around 50 Bangladeshi workers were stuck at
KLIA for several days as the immigration authorities barred their entry on grounds
of fingerprint mismatches in the biometric security system.</div> </td> </p>
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<!–
<a href="d7081301011p.htm"><img src="2007-08-13__front01.jpg" alt="Picture" width="120" border="0" valign="TOP" /></a> <br><font class="caption">One of several CNG filling stations between Kanchpur Bridge and Jatrabari of the capital which BNP big shots built on the Kutubkhali canal, drastically reducing Dhaka’s drainage capability. PHOTO: STAR</font>
–>
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<p>Bangladeshi workers, stranded at Kuala Lumpur International Airport for weeks,
are still waiting to enter the Malaysian capital. Photo: STAR</p>
<p>After spending around Tk 2 to 2.5 lakh each for a job in Malaysia, the workers
are now uncertain about their future.</p>
<p>Dr Mohammad Noor Ahmed, a public health specialist, during his six-hour transit
stop-over at KLIA en route to Dhaka, came across the stranded Bangladeshis on
August 31 evening in the KLIA arrival lounge.</p>
<p>"I could not quite understand why they [workers] were stranded. They said
their local agents did not come to the airport to receive them. The local agent
there told them that their Bangladeshi counterparts did not make payments,"
Dr Noor, a health adviser for International Rescue Committee in Indonesia, told
The Daily Star yesterday.</p>
<p>"Since I was curious about them, they shared some of their ordeals with
me and requested me to inform the authorities in Bangladesh of the matter,"
Dr Noor added.</p>
<p>Dr Noor Ahmed, who also worked at International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases
Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR, B) a few years back, said the Bangladeshis were
running short of money and they did not have any foods either.</p>
<p>The Bangladeshis told Dr Noor that several groups of Bangladeshis had arrived
in Malaysia through various recruiting agencies. Those are Morning Sun Enterprise,
Shipu Overseas, Shikha Trade International, JR Aviation Services and Sunrise
International Limited.</p>
<p>Some of them told him that they had been having nothing but water for the last
two or three days. "One worker said the local agent [of his group] at Kuala
Lumpur provided only one meal a day," he added.</p>
<p>Many of them also became sick by the time I met them, Dr Noor said.</p>
<p>When this correspondent contacted Sunrise International Limited, Mohammad Borhan
on behalf of the agency said Sunrise sent 37 workers on August 29 and the agency’s
Malaysian counterpart picked all of them up on the night of August 31.</p>
<p>An employee at Morning Sun Enterprise told The Daily Star over telephone that
he was unable to provide much information about the issue since Mohammed Rokonzzaman,
managing partner of the agency, is now out of the country — in Malaysia.</p>
<p>The other three recruiting agencies could not be reached.</p>
<p>Recently, in a similar incident, around 50 Bangladeshi workers were stuck at
KLIA for several days as the immigration authorities barred their entry on grounds
of fingerprint mismatches in the biometric security system.<br>
<br>
<i>Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=2476</i>
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