THE Labour Solidarity and Learning Resources Association (LLRC), formerly known as the Labour Law Reform Coalition, is shocked by the mysterious death of a Nepali recruitment agent, Rinji Rai, at a workers’ accommodation in Nilai and the classification as “no foul play” by the Malaysian police.
It is a fact that Rinji Rai was receiving threats from Malaysia-based agents, and a Nepali worker died at the same accommodation several months before the visit of Rinji Rai.
The unusual two deaths linked to the migrant worker recruitment scandal should not be treated as a trivial matter.
It is unfortunate that after so many years’ civil society outcry, the phenomenon of labour trafficking and forced labour remains unchanged.
Migrant workers have not only been trapped into debt bondage; now the lives of a migrant worker and a recruitment agent have been taken.
In addition to the probe into the two mysterious deaths, it is really a high time for the Malaysian government to set up a royal commission of inquiry to investigate the migrant worker management system in a holistic approach.
All stakeholders, including migrant workers, government officers and recruitment agents of both sending and receiving countries, should be invited to give their testimonies.
LLRC strongly urges the government to set up an inter-agency labour taskforce to close the institutional loopholes that are being exploited by unscrupulous recruitment agents, including the blatant use of false documents for approval and reselling migrant worker quotas.
The taskforce must also improve some practices such as the remedy channel when migrant workers’ rights are violated. – The Vibes, November 22, 2023
Gopal Kishnam Nadesan is secretary of the Labour Solidarity and Learning Resources Association, a coalition endorsed by 58 trade unions from various sectors and worker organisations.
