Activists: Stiff fine for bosses of duped migrants welcome but not enough

Labour advocates have welcomed a proposal by Plantation and Commodities Minister Johari Abdul Ghani to impose a fine of RM20,000 to RM30,00 per worker on employers who bring in workers without jobs waiting for them.

However, they said, more comprehensive penalties must be meted out to target all parties complicit in the offence.

Former Klang MP Charles Santiago said the proposed amount would not even cover the expenses of workers who had gone into debt to pay recruitment fees from multiple layers of agents to land the non-existent promised jobs in Malaysia.

Furthermore, the workers must be compensated for the months they were forced to be without wages, he said.

“We must also include an interest component in this compensation.  

“Malaysia must ensure zero recruitment fees for migrants seeking employment here, aligning with the guidelines set by the International Labour Organization for fair recruitment,” he said.

Charles Santiago

Losing sight of masterminds

Migrant rights advocate Adrian Pereira added that targeting employers only also lose sight of fraudsters who facilitated the import of these workers, but who may not be the employer on paper.

This is the case in the Malaysiakini expose, which found that six companies had imported workers without having jobs waiting for them, using forged documents.

Malaysiakini’s investigations found the mastermind behind the scheme had obscured his connection by using shell companies and prominent individuals as fronts.

Pereira, who is the director of migrant rights group North South Initiative, added that targeting employers alone also neglects the fact that multiple stakeholders are involved in the scheme.

“When we impose fines on employers involved in fake job scams, we are overlooking the masterminds who approved the quota and those who facilitated fraudulent applications.

“We must ensure fairness in administering punishment to all individuals implicated in the scams.

“Instead of hefty fines, we need to address the issue for what it is, which is a criminal offence of people trafficking,” he said.

Adrian Pereira

According to the police’s Commercial Crimes Investigation Department of about 600 workers brought in by the companies identified in Malaysiakini's expose, some 200 are still without jobs, a year after they arrived in Malaysia.

Of those who did get redeployed to other companies, some said the job scope far differed from what they signed up for when they agreed to come to Malaysia.

Some were redeployed with the assistance of the Labour Department, Malaysiakini learnt. 

MEF disagrees with Johari's proposal

The scheme exposed by the portal is likely one of many.

In December, a group of Bangladeshi workers were detained after they walked some 10km in Pengerang, Johor, to lodge a police report against their recruitment agent.

The workers said they had not been placed in employment since they were brought into the country.

Yesterday, Johari suggested that the fines be imposed on employers if they cannot place their workers in employment within a month of their arrival.

“If they (migrants) don’t have jobs we will send them back using this cost (compounds), if not the government has to foot the cost,” he was quoted as saying by Berita Harian.

Plantation and Commodities Minister Johari Abdul Ghani

The plantation industry is among industries which heavily rely on migrant workers.

Johari’s proposal was, however, rejected by the Malaysian Employers Federation.

Instead of being fined, the companies which brought in the workers should be encouraged to redeploy the workers to companies that need them.

The employers should also be compensated by the second company for the cost of bringing in the workers, MEF president Syed Hussain Husman told the New Straits Times. - Mkini