30 Bangladeshi workers struggling to survive
A Malaysian company has allegedly not been paying around 30 Bangladeshi workers for the last five months, leaving the migrants in a dire state.
“We have no money to buy food. Some of us are borrowing from fellow Bangladeshis and some are bringing money from home to survive,” said Jasim, a worker of the Malaysian construction company Axisjaya Sdn Bhd, from their labour camp in Cyberjaya of Selangor state on the phone yesterday.
“It’s Ramadan now. We had been working but we’re not getting paid. It’s painful. So, we stopped working for the last three days,” he said.
He said the workers have repeatedly asked the management of Axisjaya to pay, but have not received any positive response.
“They don’t care if we eat or not. They said they have bills to receive and would pay us after receiving them,” Jasim said, adding that they are preparing to lodge complaints to the Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur.
Tareq Hossain, another Bangladeshi worker of the company, said Axisjaya recruited nearly 80 Bangladeshi workers in several phases last year.
“I came here in August last year. I got salaries for the first three months, but then they stopped paying me despite working regularly, including overtime,” he said.
The company “transferred” over 40 Bangladeshi workers to other companies, in violation of Malaysian law, Tareq added.
Abu Hayat, a Bangladeshi researcher in Malaysian, said he visited the accommodation of the migrants yesterday and found the situation appalling.
“It’s painful to see how these Bangladeshi youths are struggling. Their labour camp doesn’t have enough running water and electricity,” he said.
Bangladesh High Commission should immediately intervene and ensure that the migrants get regular pay, he added.
Axisjaya did not respond to repeated calls made by The Daily Star yesterday.
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