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Ministry probing firm named in stranded Bangladeshis’ work visas

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The probe is related to claims by NGOs and activists that the company may have been abusing the foreign workers quota.

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Free Malaysia Today
It was reported that many Bangladeshi workers arrived in Malaysia with promised jobs but only to be left in the lurch without any employment.

PETALING JAYA:
The human resources ministry is investigating the firm whose name appeared in the temporary work visas of the 95 Bangladeshi workers who were without jobs after landing in the country in December.

According to labour department director-general Asri Rahman, the probe is related to claims by NGOs and activists that the company may have been abusing the foreign workers quota.

“(The company) is still under investigation. Once we complete our investigation we will revert back or call for a press conference,” he told FMT in a brief WhatsApp message.

He was asked about claims that the firm, whose name is being withheld pending a response, is using it as a front to bring in the foreign workers with misleading data.

A check with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) shows the company was established in 2003 and its nature of business is manufacturing, assembling and trading of electronic products, contractors, renovators and other related construction works.

According to the report, the company had posted losses of about RM97,000 last year.

Migrant worker activist Andy Hall, who has been exposing several cases of Bangladeshi workers arriving in Malaysia and finding themselves without jobs, said the authorities must explain how the particular company had obtained the approved quotas without any verification.

“Many are wondering if the recent arrests of the human resources minister’s senior aides is related to the employer who is being probed by the labour department in these cases.

“Whatever the case, civil society actors like myself are glad that the department is finally probing the company whose name was on the workers’ temporary work visas,” he told FMT.

“We hope the authorities will help the workers also find employment as they have borrowed so much money to come here and are currently in situations of acute debt bondage.”

Yesterday, the Bangladesh High Commission lamented that the Malaysian government’s approval process for the recruitment of migrant workers lacked transparency.

It said this has led to migrant workers arriving in Malaysia being left unemployed.

“It is the responsibility of the labour department, under the human resources ministry, to ensure the legal rights of all domestic and migrant workers. It is not possible for all the missions of source countries to verify the demand for employees.

“The embassy must depend on the approval of the Malaysian authorities. In most cases, the Bangladesh high commission verifies the demands via related documents, whether the approvals of various Malaysian authorities are correct or otherwise,” it said.

The statement was in response to recent reports of many Bangladeshi workers finding themselves in dire straits after spending about RM20,000 to land in Malaysia with promised jobs but only to be left in the lurch without any employment.

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