Malaysia migrants in limbo as promised jobs fall through

Vulnerable to fake recruiters, South Asian migrants stranded without work for months

KUALA LUMPUR:

Stranded without work for months, hundreds of South Asian migrants in Malaysia say they are losing hope after failing to find jobs promised to them by recruitment agents in exchange for thousands of dollars in fees.

At a students’ dormitory about 40 km (25 miles) from the capital, Kuala Lumpur, about 500 migrants – mostly young men from Nepal and Bangladesh who had arrived in Malaysia since December – spend their days in crowded rooms or at an open-air cafeteria.

They say they arrived in the country on a three-month work visa that was meant to be upgraded to a work permit, but never was. Because their legal status is unclear, they are afraid to leave the premises, the workers told Reuters at the facility where they are staying.

Many say recruitment agents took their passports and continue to promise them jobs.

“We are all depressed and helpless. We already paid a huge amount for the job. How can I pay that back if I do not have a job?” a Nepali migrant at the dormitory told Reuters.

The 23-year-old, who declined to be identified for fear of backlash from recruitment agents, signed a two-year contract with a Malaysian cleaning company but has not started work. He said he, like others there, had borrowed 300,000 Nepali rupees ($2,300) to pay an agent for the job. He was promised a monthly salary of 2,062 ringgit ($464.94) per month.

The workers at the facility all tell similar stories: upon arriving in Malaysia, recruiting agencies told them no jobs were immediately available and took them to accommodation facilities to wait. They were then told they would eventually be employed; in the meantime, they must pay for their own food without a salary.

It is unclear how the workers ended up without jobs despite arriving in Malaysia with employment contracts and promises that their temporary work visas would become permanent on arrival. Malaysia last month launched an investigation.

Puncak Jupiter Management Services and Star Domain Resources, listed as employers on some of the workers’ travel documents, did not respond to requests for comment. Amial International, one of the recruitment agencies the workers used, did not respond to requests for comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2023.

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