COMMENT | An account of modern-day slavery: Part 2

This is part two of a four-part account of modern-day slavery, forced labour, and abuse perpetrated against a group of migrant workers from Bangladesh.

COMMENT | Ahmed's eyes were hopeful but tinged with a heavy dose of frustration, helplessness, and despair. He is scrawny, medium height, and comes from a poor family.

I came to know of Ahmed when he and his friends posted a plea for help on my official Facebook page.

They contacted me when their repeated plea for help with the staff at the Bangladesh High Commission fell on deaf ears.

Upon hearing their heart-wrenching story, I decided to do everything possible to help them.

When Ahmed and his friends arrived at what was once a cheap motel, a group of 26 people was already inhabiting an adjacent room.

Some from this group have been around since December and have worked for two months in Penang and Johor. They were not paid their due wages but were given RM300 by the agent when they began questioning him.

These men had their Construction Personnel Registration Card from the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB).

Poor living conditions

Ahmed and 40 others were put in an empty room. It became even more cramped when they were joined by a group of 30 people five days later.

Ahmed said they hardly had enough space to sleep and had to crouch to fit into the curves of each other's bodies.

There were no fans, and all 71 shared one bathroom and toilet. "It was hell," he said.

According to Ahmed, there was a Nepali lady believed to be the hotel manager, who gave them rice, dhal, and vegetables twice a day, plus a small bottle of water once a day. That wasn't enough, so they used whatever money they had to buy more water.

The agent, Derek, has a Bangladeshi manager named Ravi, who acts as a spokesperson and overseer. Ravi comes by every 20 days and tells them they will get a job soon. But, they were given Construction Personnel Registration Cards.

One day, some police officers spotted one of Ahmed's friends speaking on his phone outside the building. They followed him back to his room, scanned the place, and instructed some of them to put on their shirt, even though the men told them it was blazing hot.

Then, the interrogation began.

They showed the police a photocopy of their passports and the little information they had about the agency.

The police asked them to call Ravi but he didn't answer any of the 30-40 calls made to him.

The police officer then made Ahmed and his friends sit down with their phones faced downward to ensure nobody was recording. When one man tried recording sneakily, the police grabbed his phone and smashed it.

Another police officer slapped one migrant worker after finding cigarettes in his possession.

One of the workers had a bag, which caught the police's attention. They found RM500 in cash, and smirking at the workers, one officer tore up an RM100-note, burned another RM100 note using his lighter, and took the remaining RM300.

"We were shocked and completely heartbroken. This is arrogance and an abuse of power.

“But why show their power to us, a bunch of poor people who have come to work in your country?" Ahmed asked.

The police then instructed the workers to give whatever money they had as a bribe to ensure they were not arrested for lacking original documents, following which the men pooled together their pocket change.

"We were confined in a small room. Even then, the police officers extorted money from us," Ahmed said, tearing up.

According to Ahmed, Ravi and Derek arrived an hour later with a bag of passports, and Derek paid off the police officers.

One police officer apologised to the workers before leaving.

Intervention?

As a stroke of luck, or what Ahmed initially thought, the Labour Department of Peninsular Malaysia intervened after a tipoff.

It questioned Derek about the terrible living conditions and lack of proper food, to which he lied and said that the workers had just been brought two days before and will be taken elsewhere after another two days.

But, according to Ahmed, Derek was visibly afraid of the labour department personnel. The labour officers snapped pictures of their room and took the only photocopy of their passports.

The officers then insisted that the workers must be moved as the living conditions were appalling.

Three days later, they loaded some of the men onto a bus and relocated them to a government facility after 25 days of being cooped in a small room. The remaining 20 workers were taken to Penang by Derek. Ahmed remained in KL.

The Labour Department did not make any effort to verify if Derek and the 20 workers had the necessary legal documents to travel and work.

Ahmed kept in touch with the 20 workers and found out they were forced to work in dangerous jobs without any personal protection equipment, leading to cuts on their palms, hands, and bodies.

They were not paid. One worker had run away as a result of abuse and harsh conditions of work.

Here are some of the labour law violations, including forced labour:

1. Abuse of vulnerability
2. Deception
3. Restriction of movement
4. Isolation
5. Physical violence
6. Intimidation and threats
7. Retention of identity documents
8. Withholding of wages
9. Debt bondage
10. Abusive working and living conditions

Note: Names of employment agencies in Dhaka and companies they were supposed to work at in Malaysia have been kept anonymous to protect the workers and their families in Bangladesh.

Tomorrow: "We were supposed to send money home to pay off our debts. But our families are borrowing money on top of whatever we took from loan sharks to get here, to eat, and barely survive. When will our ordeal be over? Will the Malaysian government help us?".

CHARLES SANTIAGO is a former Klang MP for DAP and the chairperson of the National Water Services Commission (Span).

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

COMMENT | An account of modern-day slavery: Part 1

Jobless and out of food, 124 migrant workers file police report

Govt to blacklist employers who outsource migrant workers

Govt's inaction on outsourcing migrant labour sparks stakeholder ire

HR Ministry says it's not responsible for policing labour outsourcing

Ministry blames foreign agents for labour glut, denies 'zero checks' done

Call to set up RCI to probe labour trafficking in M'sia

Charles calls home minister to overhaul recruitment system

Amid supply glut, traffickers offer to ‘sell’ migrant workers to agencies