The staff at the immigration department mocked him, the police did not act on his reports and the Nepalese embassy did not offer him any useful assistance.

This was the predicament faced by George (as he wishes to be known) ( photo, right, face pixelised ) when he tried to help his Nepali friend Mangal Bahadur Gurung - who was cheated by his former employer and subsequently wrongfully arrested and caned by Malaysian authorities.

"It all began when I met Mangal back in late 2003. I used to patronise the restaurant which he worked in, close-by my home, for my daily dose of teh tarik . After some time we became friends and after he gained confidence in me, Mangal approached me for help.

"He told me the situation with his former employer - Restaurant Raya Arif in USJ 1, Subang Jaya - whom he claimed had not paid him months of wages and threatened to abuse him if he continued to ask for the money," related the 53-year-old semi-retired contractor.

George, however, hesitated to purchase a flight ticket for Mangal to return home, as requested by the migrant worker, since his passport was being withheld by restaurant owner Noorul Hassan Sahul.

"I brought Mangal to the SS17 police station in Subang Jaya (in November 2004, 14 months after the worker arrived in Malaysia) to lodge a report against his employer who owed him almost a year's wage and kept his passport," he added, showing copies of the report to malaysiakini.

The two were then re-directed to lodge a second report at the area's district police headquarters in USJ 8.

He also contacted the media, the Nepalese embassy and the Malaysian Immigration Department on behalf of Mangal, who speaks limited Bahasa Malaysia and close to no English, to highlight his plight.

Given the run-around

Sadly, said George, no fruitful actions were taken by any of them.

"We managed to set a meeting with the employer at the Nepalese embassy in December but he (Noorul Hassan) did not turn up. The embassy said there was nothing they could do about the no-show," he added

Mangal stopped working at the restaurant soon after that and was squatting in another Nepali's make-shift shelter in a factory. On finding out his friend's living arrangements George paid rental for Mangal to live in a room in an apartment unit close-by his.

Things turned for the worse and Mangal, who hails from Nepal's Gorkha district, was arrested by immigration officers during a nationwide crackdown on undocumented foreigners in March 2005.

He was picked up by Rela officers (auxiliary police voluntary unit) on March 5 despite providing the officers with photocopies of his passport and work permit.

"From that moment onwards, I was given the run-round in my efforts to further help Mangal. When I finally came to know, days later, that he was taken to the Semenyih detention centre, I contacted the immigration department again," George said.

He wrote letters to the department's foreign labour division in Putrajaya and called the department daily. He was so religious in harassing the department that they knew his name all too well and even went to the extend of poking fun at him.

"They often passed me on from one person to another. During the times they kept me on hold I could hear them making fun of my name, saying things like 'George, George, George of the jungle calling'," he alleged.

('George of the jungle' is a cartoon character)

Taught to share

However, this did not dampen his spirit as he doubled the efforts to secure his friend's release. He approached labour rights group Tenaganita and the media once again.

"Tenaganita later took up the case. They got lawyers to help also. I tried approaching The New Straits Times again, after his arrest, but they refused to highlight the case. The employer also didn't want to cooperate by providing Mangal's passport.

"By the time any help was given, it was too late. Mangal was already caned and jailed for 51 days in Kajang police station," said George.

Mangal was charged and sentenced in the Petaling Jaya magistrate's court - to 10 months jail and a stroke of the rotan on March 23 - for illegal entry. The court refused to acknowledge his claims that he was a legal migrant.

The 30-year-old Nepali, who is married with two young children, was released from jail on May 12 after High Court Judicial Commissioner Zaharah Ibrahim set aside his conviction and ordered his immediate freedom.

"The media have been calling me non-stop since. The Nepal embassy have also contacted me but I've given up hope on them helping Mangal," said George, adding that he was grateful to Tenaganita and the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) who are currently taking up Mangal's wage dispute with the Labour Office.

Mangal has been living in George's three-bedroom apartment which also houses his wife and his daughter. The Nepali's meals are also being subsidised by the retiree.

Asked why he went, and continues to go to such great lengths for this person, George said he did it because he was taught that "one must share what one has although I have very little myself".

On having been called a 'Good Samaritan' by those reading his heroics, the modest, small-sized, football fan said, "I don't want to make a name for myself, I don't want publicity, I don't want anything in return. I am merely helping out a friend."

Mangal added that he is forever indebted to his 'Uncle George' and hopes they will meet again someday in the future. As for now, he just wants to go home to his family in Nepal with the remuneration due to him.