LETTER | They came seeking work. They found debt, deception, and fear. For thousands of Bangladeshi migrant workers in Malaysia, migration has not meant opportunity. It has been an entrapment.
What they are living through is not mismanagement. It is a system of exploitation that has been allowed to grow because no one has been held accountable.
When exploitation becomes organised, when recruitment becomes coercion, and when vulnerability becomes profit, the issue is no longer policy. It is criminal.
The conditions faced by Bangladeshi migrant workers in Malaysia meet the legal thresholds of trafficking, forced labour, and structural exploitation. This is not a failure of paperwork. It is a failure of justice.
I therefore call on the government to immediately initiate:
1. Independent criminal investigations
An independent criminal investigation, led by Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) chairperson Hishamudin Yunus, into all aspects of the exploitation of Bangladeshi migrant workers:
Syndicate-controlled recruitment networks and corrupt brokers
Recruitment agencies and intermediaries charging excessive fees
Employers and companies implicated in forced labour conditions
Any public officials or enforcers whose actions or inaction have facilitated exploitation
2. Full transparency and public reporting
These investigations must be transparent, publicly reported, and involve civil society and worker representatives in oversight roles.
Findings should be released in full, and prosecutions should follow where credible evidence of wrongdoing exists.
3. Protection and remedies for affected workers
We must ensure that:
Workers are protected from retaliation, detention, or deportation when reporting abuses.
Victims can access legal aid, medical support, psychosocial services, and compensation mechanisms.
Temporary legal status is provided to workers who cooperate with investigations.
Establish a compensation fund for affected workers, funded by fines and seized assets.
4. Reform of exploitative recruitment systems
We must dismantle exploitative recruitment models by:
introducing an employer pay principle zero to replace all worker-paid recruitment fees and debt-bondage structures;
banning syndicate-controlled recruitment pathways;
establishing transparent, state-regulated systems with enforceable protections; and
replacing existing memorandums of understanding with binding labour agreements.
5. Strengthened labour rights enforcement
Workers must have access to:
Independent complaint mechanisms with interpreter support
Regular, unannounced inspections of the workplace
Legal remedies for wage theft, passport confiscation, and contract violations
6. Bilateral and international accountability
The government should work with Bangladesh and international human rights bodies to establish an independent oversight, enforce international labour standards, and ensure that bilateral labour agreements are rights-centred, not profit-driven.
This is not a peripheral issue. It is a human rights scandal that demands criminal accountability, systematic reform, and justice for those harmed.
Silence is complicity. Delay is denial. And this moment certainly demands more than statements. It demands that the government, law enforcement, Suhakam, international human rights bodies, and civil society act decisively, independently, and in full public view.
CHARLES SANTIAGO is former Klang MP.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
