Held as ‘slaves’ and in debt bondage

 

From Charles Santiago

Note: Final part of an account of modern slavery, forced labour and abuse perpetrated against a group of migrant workers from Bangladesh.

We have highlighted the plight of Ahmed and his friends over the last three days. They forked out tens of thousands of ringgit to get a job in Malaysia but were duped by unscrupulous labour agents upon arrival.

They were harassed by police who took whatever little money they had, with one policeman burning and tearing up two RM100 notes.

Food and water are scarce, and the agent is asking for RM7,000 to give them back their passports.

Clearly, Ahmed and his friends are being held as bonded slaves and are in debt bondage. We are trying to get a hold of stakeholders, in Malaysia and Bangladesh, as a way of finding a durable solution.

But the bottom line is that these workers are being abused, while authorities, employers and labour agents are complicit.

They came to Malaysia with dreams of escaping poverty, only to find themselves further entrenched in poverty and misery.

They work in an unfair and exploitative environment — where passports are held by employers as a form of control, where salaries are denied, where they are provided with the worst living conditions possible, and where they live in fear of the police.

Government agencies such as the labour department (JTKSM) can be part of the solution if only they grow a spine and begin to prosecute employers who violate workers’ rights and undertake labour practices bordering on human trafficking.

We have been told JTKSM raided the place on Monday and shifted the workers to another place.

Will the agents and employers who are complicit be prosecuted?

Ahmed and his friends are victims of a corrupt migrant management system, which starts from the recruitment process in Bangladesh to employment in Malaysia.

The conditions under which the migrant management is organised and practised are a grave violation of human rights and strip them of their dignity.

They check all indicators for forced labour (which we have ratified) and human trafficking, violate multiple laws, as well as go against the principles of ESG (environmental, social and governance) and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals that we are a party to.

So, these questions remain: Why is the implementation of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act, aimed at curbing trafficking, so poor and ineffective? Why do authorities fail to arrest agents and employers who profit off migrant workers?

Part 1: High hopes turn into nightmare

Part 2: ‘We were confined in a small room like animals’

Part 3: Still no jobs after 1 month

- FMT 

Charles Santiago is former MP for Klang and an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.