35 Bangladeshi workers stranded in Malaysia, employer summoned by ministry

Thirty-five Bangladeshi workers have been stranded in Malaysia for four months due to the employer backtracking from their contract.

The employer has been summoned by the Malaysian Ministry of Human Resources, said the Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia.

The ministry wants the employer, whose name is on the work visas provided to the workers, to explain why they have not secured jobs, high commissioner Golam Sarwar told Free Malaysia Today.

The high commissioner said that the company was reluctant to cooperate and ignored the commission's calls.

"But after we took the matter up with the human resources ministry, the employer is now cooperating. The labour department has reportedly called the employer for a meeting tomorrow.

"We have been assured by the department officials that the workers will be employed by a new firm based in Johor Bahru. We are following up closely with all concerned parties and are hopeful that the issue will be resolved soon," said Golam Sarwar.

Golam was responding to a report by FMT that 35 Bangladeshi workers who had been here since December had not been given jobs as promised by the recruitment agents.

On 11 April, the workers said they were sent to a factory in Johor Bahru by the high commission but the bus they were travelling in was told to turn back two hours into the journey, dashing their hopes of being employed.

The workers said they were then placed in a dormitory in Subang which had only one toilet.

They were part of a larger group that was left stranded after they travelled to Penang in December to work, only to be left without jobs.