Editor's Note: On July 1, 2019, Albert Tei was granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) by the Semenyih Sessions Court.

A Jakarta-based migrant rights group has raised questions over the role of its embassy in Kuala Lumpur to address the issue of alleged forced labour exploitation involving its citizens in Malaysia.

This follows the reported arrest of Maxim Birdnest factory owner Albert Tei last week, after it was exposed that the workers were subjected to harsh working conditions and regulations described as modern day slavery.

Migrant Care country representative Alex Ong told Malaysiakini that a complaint was lodged with the embassy in October 2015, on behalf of a worker who ended up at Maxim’s factory in Klang, although she was initially promised a job at an electronics factory and later made to sign a contract with a green technology company.

Ong said the worker, identified as Anaria, was among a group of 31 others from Semarang, Central Java, who left for Malaysia on July 30, 2015.

“Upon arrival, Anaria was placed to work at a bird’s nest factory in Kuantan. Her assigned job was to pluck feathers and clean the nests.

“When she complained to the agency that arranged her placement, she was transferred (from Kuantan) to the factory in Klang,” said Ong.

Malaysiakini sighted the official complaint and request for assistance from the embassy, dated Oct 8, 2015, sent on behalf of Anaria by a grassroots migrant worker group in Kuala Lumpur.

It is believed that she was eventually sent back to Indonesia following the complaints lodged.

However, Ong pointed out that the Indonesian embassy, through its labour attache Mustafa Kamal, had in December 2015 approved job orders for Kiss Produce Food Tradings - using the same registered address as the Maxim bird's nest factory in Lorong Gudang Nenas, Klang.

“So how could this have happened?” he asked when pointing out that Indonesian law forbids workers to work with a different employer from what was agreed upon in their contracts.

Ong further referred to an i-Kad issued to Siti Sayekti Lestari - one of three Maxim workers met by Malaysiakini and Tempo as part of the joint investigative reports.

“The card states that she is a worker at Kiss Produce Food Tradings but the company address is stated as being in Shah Alam, not Klang,” he said.

Ong added that the plight of the more than 100 workers rescued has been brought to the attention of the Indonesian Parliament via a member of its Commission IX (9) which, among others, handles issues involving domestic and migrant labours.

Immigration introduced i-Kad in mid-2015

The Malaysian Immigration Department has, since mid-2015, introduced the i-Kad - a personal identification document for foreign workers that will complement their passports.

The i-Kad is reportedly issued in different colours according to sectors - green for agriculture, orange (plantations), grey (construction), yellow (services), red (manufacturing) and brown (for maids).

According to records from the Companies Commission of Malaysia, the address of Kiss Produce Food Tradings is listed as No 1, Lorong Gudang Nenas 1, Off Jalan Pasar, Klang.

It also stated that the company has no other branches.

Contacted for comments, Mustafa (picture) acknowledged that there were complaints implicating Tei in the past, but insisted that all the matters have been resolved.

“For us (embassy) we consider that full cooperation had been given and so the matter was resolved,” he said.

On concerns raised over his role in approving the new job orders, Mustafa said it is standard procedure that once a matter against an employer has been resolved, the embassy would continue to process any new applications.

However, he declined to reveal the exact nature of complaints that implicated Tei, who is now under police custody.

It is understood that authorities in Indonesia are also cracking down on PT Sofia Sukses Sejati - an Indonesian manpower recruitment agency based in Semarang - identified as the supplier of workers who were eventually made to work at Maxim Birdnest.