COMMENT | An account of modern-day slavery: Part 4

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

COMMENT | 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 was on them, with one police officer 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 (not his real name) and his friends are being held as bonded slaves and in debt bondage. We are trying to get 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. But 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, and where they are provided with the worse living conditions possible. And where they live in fear of the police.

Corrupt migrant management system

Government agencies such as the Labour Department 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 that the department raided the place on Monday and shifted the workers to another place.

Will the agents be persecuted and employers who are complicit?

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 migrant management is organised and practised are a grave violation of human rights and strip them of their dignity.

It checks all indicators for forced labour (which we have ratified) and human trafficking, violates multiple laws, and goes 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 Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants (ATIPSOM), to curb trafficking, poor and ineffective?

Why do authorities fail to arrest agents and employers who profit off migrant workers?

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 3

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

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

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