PETALING JAYA | The human resources ministry will help over 100 Bangladeshis who have allegedly been duped by recruitment agents.
Minister Steven Sim told FMT that although the case involving the 171 migrant workers, who have since been arrested, was beyond the ministry’s jurisdiction, “we will aid the Bangladeshis on humanitarian grounds”.
The Bangladeshi workers were spotted marching towards the Bayu Damai police station, in a now viral video.
They were arrested on Wednesday.
Earlier this evening, Kota Tinggi police chief Hussin Zamora said the workers wanted to lodge a police report against the agents for not providing them the promised jobs.
Hussin 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 his ministry would summon the employers mentioned in the foreigners’ document and the involved agencies to assist them in the investigation later this week.
“We will not hesitate to take stern action against those found guilty,” he declared, emphasizing that the ministry would maintain the freeze on applications for migrant workers for now.
“I want to emphasize here that the recruitment of migrant workers is intended to support necessary local businesses and should not be viewed as a profit-making service.”
Sim said he would meet with Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail to discuss policy improvements related to migrant workers.
On Dec 16, Sim had similarly said that officials from his ministry would engage in discussions with the home ministry to determine which ministry would take responsibility for matters concerning migrant workers.
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