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As a country progresses, it often faces shortage of manpower particularly in sectors that have become unattractive to its local workforce due to improved standard of living; and hence workers have to be recruited from other less-developed countries. Malaysia is one such country that imports foreign workers.
The process is meant to be a win-win formula for both the employer in the host country (who overcomes the problem of labour shortage at a reasonable, and usually lower, cost); as well as for the foreign employees (who acquire an opportunity to earn a higher income than they would have in their home country, and thereby improving their lives and the lives of their loved ones).

But a noble and workable scheme can easily fall prey to human greed.

A recent Penang High Court judgment in the case of Sampath Kumar Vellingiri & 78 Others v Chin Well Fasterners Co Sdn Bhd highlights the plight of a group of about 80 workers from India. Each of them started the journey from India already a man in debt, for they had to each pay Rs100,000 (about RM8,000.00) just to secure the “privilege” of working far away from home for what they had been led to believe would be a monthly wage of Rs10,000 (RM800). It is also established that the employer had signed a document promising a basic salary of RM600 per month. Having arrived and worked in Malaysia, however, they were eventually paid only RM350. As if that was not already grossly less than what they had been promised, the employer further deducted a “levy” of RM152 from this sum! The workers turned to the Labour Department for help, but without any joy. They then took legal action.

Fortunately, they found speedy justice. In a highly commendable judgment, the High Court Judge Dato’ R K Nathan had no difficulty finding in favour of these workers, and rescued them from a desperate and helpless situation. The Judge found that the local employer, the recruitment agent in India and the middleman in Malaysia had all conspired to defraud these innocent workers, who (in the Judge’s words) had been “cheated, degraded and denied food and basic amenities”.

The above is far from an isolated case of exploitation of migrant workers in our country. In Malacca, a similar case has recently been brought to court through the Legal Aid Centre of the Bar, involving another group of 45 Indian foreign workers who have been defrauded in a manner strikingly similar to the proven facts in the Penang case. In a separate incident in Alor Gajah, the plight of a group of laid-off and stranded Vietnamese workers is reported (NST, 25/7/03). The State Labour Department director describes their situation as “deplorable” and remarks that those workers “should not be suffering like this”. The Bar Council has also received information that a group of Punjabi workers in Ipoh are facing similar difficulties and distress. Other sorrowful tales are from time to time heard, revealing a pattern of shortchanging salary, wrongful deduction of levy, unlawful termination, threat of cancellation of work permit and repatriation, unsafe working conditions without protective equipment, absence of medical attention, and other forms of ill-treatment or deprivation. Yet, these incidents may just be the tip of an iceberg coagulated from greed, inhumanity and the lack of concern.

The Bar Council calls upon the Ministry of Human Resources to immediately conduct a thorough review of the process of recruitment of foreign workers to ensure that they will no longer be susceptible to deception or exploitation in Malaysia. Wherever necessary to achieve that aim, the co-operation of its counterpart in the supplier countries must be sought and obtained. The authorities on both sides must see to it that agreed conditions of employment are strictly adhered to, and that no misrepresentation or deception takes place. Migrant workers, like any others, are surely entitled to be given what was promised to them.

A specialised unit or department should also be set up to assist those foreign workers who encounter difficulties or ill-treatment in Malaysia to seek legal redress. The co-operation of the Immigration Department must be procured to revoke the present practice of immediately cancelling the permits of terminated workers (whether or not the termination is lawful or is challenged) and deporting them. The current practice enables an unscrupulous employer to hold migrant workers to ransom, because the workers can so easily be sent home against their wishes if they attempt to exercise their right against the employer.

The Bar Council further calls upon the Malaysian government to ratify the “International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families”. Such ratification will confirm Malaysia’s commitment to be a civilized and caring society which respects human rights.

The Bar Council also urges the High Commissions and Embassies concerned to adopt a more proactive policy, and to intervene and render all possible assistance whenever the rights of their citizens are infringed. An example of effective intervention occurred not long ago in relation to a group of Indian IT expatriates in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur. Uneducated manual workers need, and deserve, similar assistance, but so far do not appear to have received the same.

History has shown that migrant workers are important contributors to the development of nations worldwide. To allow them to be cheated or ill-treated in Malaysia is a disgrace. The authorities must take immediate measures to ensure that such exploitation and inhumane treatment will be a thing of the past in our country.

Dated 28th July 2003

Hj. Kuthubul Zaman Bukhari
Chairman
Bar Council