KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 26 — The Human Resources Ministry will summon the employment agency believed to be responsible for recruiting 171 Bangladeshi migrant workers but failed to find them jobs after three months here.
Malaysiakini reported that its minister Steven Sim said that investigations were being conducted this week into the agency while the migrant workers were in immigration custody.
“We will not hesitate to take stern action against those found guilty,” he was quoted as saying by the news portal.
He also told Free Malaysia Today that the issue was beyond the ministry’s jurisdiction, but they will help the Bangladeshis “on humanitarian grounds”.
It is understood that the migrant workers have been in immigration custody since December 20.
Yesterday, Kota Tinggi district police chief Hussin Zamora reportedly confirmed the arrests of the workers and said the workers were legally brought into Malaysia, but their agent had yet to provide them with work after three months.
The Bangladeshi nationals were walking to the Bayu Damai police station, about 10km away from their accommodation, to lodge a police report against their agent for not providing them jobs as promised when they were filmed on video.
Hussin also reportedly said the migrant workers were not undocumented migrants as they had entered the country legally through recruitment agents but had been unemployed for three to six months.
Sim told FMT that the ministry would maintain the freeze on applications for migrant workers for now.
“I want to emphasise here that the recruitment of migrant workers is intended to support necessary local businesses and should not be viewed as a profit-making service,” he was as quoted saying, adding that he would meet Home Minister Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail to discuss policy improvements related to migrant workers.
