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 men, aged between 21 and 37, were brought here by the same company that
supposedly hired the 39 Indian nationals charged in court two weeks ago.
<p>The 39 men from Tamil Nadu pleaded guilty to misusing their work permits.</p>
<p>They were supposed to work for a Seri Kembangan-based company but were caught
working in a factory in Shah Alam by the Immigration Department.</p>
<p>The department charged the factory in the Shah Alam magistrate’s court
last week. Trial begins on Nov 14.</p>
<p>One of the four men, Aravindan Natarajan, 21, said they read about their fellow
migrant workers in newspapers and decided to seek help from Tenaganita.</p>
<p>He was accompanied by Murugaiya Athmanatan, 30, Samikannu Chellaiah, 37, and
Muthukumar Muthu- ramalingam, 24, at the Tena- ganita office.</p>
<p>“We were sent to work at various places and were not paid for our labour,”</p>
<p>They claimed that two men approached them when they arrived at the Kuala Lumpur
International Airport on June 10.</p>
<p>Aravindan said their passports were taken away immediately and they were brought
to a motel, where they met 10 other Indian nationals. They stayed there for
20 days.</p>
<p>He said they were all then brought to Johor and stayed in a building for a
month. They were not offered jobs.</p>
<p>“We were constantly guarded by two men and not allowed to leave the building.
In August, we were brought to work in an oil palm estate in Kapar, Klang, and
we spent six weeks there.”</p>
<p>At the end of August, Muthukumar was sent to work at a furniture factory but
he refused to go as the owners did not stipulate any salary.</p>
<p>Aravindan said in September, Sammikannu, Murugaiya and he were sent to work
in a plastics factory.</p>
<p>Short stints of unloading sacks of sugar in Port Klang, working in a steel
factory in Seri Kembangan, a metal junkyard in Rawang and another such junkyard
in Subang Perdana followed.</p>
<p>The men managed to call and inform their families of their plight, asking for
money for them to go home.</p>
<p>When their families contacted their agent in India, the ‘guards’
found out. The guards told their families that they were ‘troublemakers’
who refused to work even when jobs were aplenty. The men escaped from their
respective workplaces and approached Tenaganita with the help of friends.</p>
<p>They have lodged a police report and will go to the Indian High Commission
and Immigration Department to make arrangements to go home.</p>
<p>Aravindan said they hope they will not be charged in court like the 39 Indian
nationals. “We borrowed money to come here. We are now without money and
shelter. Our documents are all with the men who met us at the airport. We just
want to go home because our life here has been hell.”
Address: Wisma MTUC,10-5, Jalan USJ 9/5T, 47620 Subang Jaya,Selangor | Tel: 03-80242953 | Fax: 03-80243225 | Email: sgmtuc@gmail.com.com