Global Courant 2023-05-11 13:10:00
Amial International, one of the recruitment agencies used by the workers, did not respond to requests for comment.
The Malaysian Ministry of Human Resources and the Ministry of Labor did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The ministry has promised to find work for a separate group of 226 stranded workers from Bangladesh and Nepal.
Migrants are the backbone of Malaysia’s export-dependent economy, making up about 15 percent of the country’s 15 million workforce.
Malaysian companies have faced US bans over the use of forced labor in recent years.
Rights activists say migrant workers are at greater risk after Malaysia eased recruitment procedures in 2023 in a bid to fill a 1.2 million job shortfall in the plantation, manufacturing and construction sectors.
“It’s a bigger problem now,” said Mr Adrian Pereira, executive director of the migrant rights group North South Initiative.
The Bangladesh embassy in Kuala Lumpur in April called for more transparency by Malaysia to avoid depriving its citizens of jobs.
A Bangladeshi official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, told Reuters that “a few hundred” of its citizens are stuck in Malaysia without work.
The Nepalese embassy has also said it has received such complaints.
In the facility visited by Reuters, the migrants lived four to six in small rooms with bunk beds and a shared bathroom.
Two workers — Nepalese citizens aged 43 and 46 — died by suicide at the facility between February and April, the Nepalese embassy in Kuala Lumpur said, citing reports from Malaysian police and hospitals. Reuters was unable to determine why the two men committed suicide.
With no income, the migrants find it difficult to buy food and repay loans.
“We still don’t know if we will get a job or not. The officer keeps asking us to wait… it’s been three months already,” said a Bangladeshi worker. REUTERS
