The government’s decision to compel employers to pay the levy incurred to hire foreign workers has prompted outcry from industry.

The strong industrial lobby has yet again pushed the government to stall the idea despite incessant campaigns by unions and human rights activists. (Currently the levy is being paid by the workers themselves)

The activists argue making workers - especially those barely earning minimum wage - pay to work is modern-day bonded labour.

This is especially since many of these foreign workers already pay a fortune to agents at home just to reach Malaysian shores.

There are about two million blue-collar foreign workers in Malaysia, many from Indonesia and Bangladesh, while others come from Nepal, India and Asean countries.

In brief conversations with Humans of Kuala Lumpur, three blue-collar foreign workers in the capital city share a little bit of their story.

My name is Birkha. B-I-R-K-H-A. It means ‘brave person’.

I help people. I give money to people who do not have money to pay for parking. RM1 or RM2 - I don't mind giving. Some people come back and pay me back and some never come back.

For RM1 or 2, I don't mind giving. If they like, they can return it. If not, I don't care. Maybe they've forgotten.

(Approached while putting up Mother’s Day posters)

I miss my mom. She passed away when I was seven years old. My dad left me and my other siblings with my uncle, so he could go to Malaysia. My brother was five years old and my sister three years old.

He applied for the job in Malaysia before my mother was sick. Two days to his flight to Malaysia, my mother fell sick. She was bitten by a white mosquito (sic).

My father worked in a factory. My uncle called my dad to inform him that her condition was getting worse. My father asked my uncle to take her to hospital while he sought approval from his boss to return home.

But when he returned, it was too late. Mom is gone.

My father worked in Malaysia for three years before returning for good. Now, I'm 24 years old and on a two-year contract working in Malaysia.

I come from Cambodia.

Every morning I cook food at home and go around Kuala Lumpur to sell it. Not many people sell like this anymore.

I go to maybe 20 places in the morning, and I finish at around 12pm.

I have to go now, have to rush, many places to go.

These stories was first published on the HUMANS OF KUALA LUMPUR Facebook page. In this photography project, Mushamir Mustafa takes pictures of random people in Kuala Lumpur, who share with him a story from their lives. It features on Malaysiakini every weekend.