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?
On Thursday, the Bangladeshi man landed at the Kuala Lumpur
International Airport, queued up at the Immigration counter and produced his passport, and within minutes he was detained.
<P>He had been sought by the Immigration
Department for alleged involvement in a syndicate bringing in foreign workers
together with a businessman known as "Datuk Z" whom Immigration officials
quizzed in October.</P><P>Immigration enforcement director Datuk Ishak Mohamed
said following Badal’s arrest, a Mal- aysian known as Dicky Wong, 51, was
arrested at his home in Kajang.</P><P>Enforcement officers found four Bangladeshi
and four Vietnamese passports in Wong’s house.</P><P>Ishak said the room
had computers and printers, believed to be used to print permits and letters.</P><P>He
added the department was looking for two men, known as Kalai (a Malaysian) and
Rumi (a Bangladeshi married to a Sabahan), who are believed to be involved in
the scam.</P><P>The case came to light following a check with Saibaa Tech Electronics
Sdn Bhd, whose application to bring in 39 workers from Bangladesh was approved.</P><P>However,
it was later revealed that the Kota Tinggi-based company had not submitted any
application.</P><P>The Immigration Department had also approved an application
to transfer workers to a Singaporean electronics company based in Senai, Johor,
which also turned out to be false.</P><P>Ishak said those behind the scam were
believed to have pocketed a large part of the RM10,000 fee paid by each of the
Bangladeshis recruited to work here.</P><P>He said the procedures for hiring of
foreign workers had been tightened with employers being required to come to the
department to be interviewed before their applications were approved.</P><P><I><FONT SIZE="1">http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Wednesday/National/20070103082323/Article/local1_html</FONT></I>
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