26 May 2007
R. Ganesh did not live to experience the life of comfort he had hoped for. Eight months after coming to Malaysia, the Indian national was dead. The cards seem to be overwhelmingly stacked against foreign workers in terms of poor working conditions, laws that do not adequately protect and employers who just do not care, write S. ARULLDAS and SUGANTHI SUPARMANIAM
The fact that he returned home with nothing more than the shirt on his back should have spoken volumes about the empty promises of employment agents in Tamil Nadu.
It should also have warned him that his circumstances might worsen and result in a far worse fate than the first time around.
In that misadventure, Ganesh took a loan from a loan shark after an agent found him a job in an electronics factory in Tampoi, Johor.
However, the stint was short-lived with the young man returning home after a few months without a job or money.
As it turned out, hell was awaiting him in Malaysia.
Even if the 28-year-old from Pettai Vadukku Salai near Kumbakonam, about 400km from Chennai had wanted to refuse the job last year, it would not have been possible.
He has been pushed to the wall by financial circumstances arising out of his earlier outing and desperately needed to make enough to repay loans sharks.
The moneylenders were harassing his mother, R. Amsavalli, 52, a widow who had sold most of what she had to partly finance his earlier trip to Malaysia.
With nothing to lose, he set out across the Indian Ocean with nothing more to go on than the word of an agent that this was a second chance at making it rich.
Looking back, Amsavalli said there was no other reason for her agreeing to Ganesh’s decision to work in Malaysia than the harassment of loans sharks.
"We were up to our necks in debt with the loan shark hounding us to repay his money," she said.
The family started getting more desperate as the demands for settling the Rupees 100,000 (RM8,700) debt became more insistent.
Ganesh finally got his mother’s consent and saw another loan shark for enough money to leave for Malaysia.
"He pleaded with me to allow him to go as he desperately wanted to earn some money to clear the debt," she said.
In August last year, he packed his bags and left for Alma in Bukit Mertajam where he was to work in a sauce factory.
"He last spoke to me in February this year, saying that everything was okay...however, I knew he was lying as he sounded scared. He seemed to be trying hard to stop himself from crying," she said.
She finally decided to enquire about his well-being from the agent who found Ganesh the job.
However, the agent never entertained her enquiries.
The agent has since fled town after news of Ganesh’s death on April 27 reached India.
Ganesh’s employers, T. Rajan, 45, his wife M. Ganeswari, 45, and their son, Vijaar, 20, were subsequently charged with committing culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
The trio were alleged to have committed the offence using a stick, a cane, and a steel chain at their house in Taman Nirwana, Alma Bukit Mertajam, between Feb 5 and April 10.
The case has been fixed for hearing at the Butterworth Sessions Court on June 5.
Who is actually in charge of these workers?
THE litany of complaints seems endless — from physical abuse and being locked up without food to unpaid wages, wrongful deductions, and being cheated by the agents who recruit foreign labour.
But for those brave enough to come forward, there may be others who suffer in silence.
What happens to those who complain?
Ganesh’s employers have been charged in court but what of the many who have got away scot-free?
Figures are hard to come by but Tenaganita, the non-governmental organisation, programme officer S. Florida received 204 reports of unpaid wages last year.
Asian Outreach volunteer Sapana Basyar said at least two Nepalese workers a day came to them.
The Indian and Nepalese High Commissions said they each received about five complaints a day on the matter.
"Most of the complaints we receive are of unpaid wages, wrongful deductions, charging a double levy and non-renewal of work permits. We have also had cases of severe abuse by the employer. One man even had his fingers chopped off," said Sapana.
Sapana says dealing with the Immigration Department is frustrating. They are often told that the department has no jurisdiction over issues contained in complaints.
"It is frustrating. There is no transparency or even guidelines. If Immigration can’t give us answers, where else to ask? Who is actually in charge of these workers?"
Sapana said foreign workers were expected to be submissive and obedient. Any word of them approaching non-government organisations or even the Labour Department could cost them their job.
Their passport, work permit and salary are often withheld. Unable to go back home, and afraid to approach Immigration, they have nowhere to turn to.
Indian High Commission first secretary, Sudhir Kumar Mehrota, said the mission has tried to mediate between the employer and the worker after reporting the complaint to the Immigration Department.
"If they come to terms, then it is good. If not, we take the matter to the Labour Ministry," he said.
The best protection for the workers, he said, is to check the bona fides of the recruitment agents and only to sign contracts that have been endorsed by the high commission.
Nepalese charge d’affaires Hari K. Shrestha said complaints from migrant workers were handled on a case-by-case basis.
The high commission contacts the company to hear its side of the story.
"But if a company refuses to talk to us, we have no choice but to report the matter to the Immigration and the Labour Departments."
He added that even a contract endorsed by the high commission sometimes did not afford any protection.
"We have come across cases where two sets of contracts were prepared. One is properly done with the right salary and working conditions and bears the endorsement by the High Commission.
"The other set is a fake. Employers show them the real papers, and then dupe them into signing the fakes. This is not only illegal, but immoral," he said.
Malaysian Trade Union Congress secretary general G. Rajasekaran said that in general, foreign workers were treated shabbily here.
He added that the Immigration Department was making "unacceptable excuses" when it says it is difficult to catch and prosecute errant employers.
Desperate youths the target of unscrupulous agents
IT is a paradox that continues to bewilder many.
Few understand how some Indian workers who pay huge amounts to work in Malaysia end up in penury at the end of their stint. In a few cases, some have returned home with hardly enough to start life anew.
There are, of course, many who, by living a spartan lifestyle, manage to save a small fortune which they use to raise the standard of living of their families on getting back.
In some cases, the blame can be placed entirely on illegal employment agents in Chennai and other cities in Tamil Nadu who make empty promises to desperate youths living in poverty-stricken rural areas.
Peace Trust chairman J. Paul Baskaran said illiterate villagers were often duped into thinking the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow was in Malaysia.
The head of the Trichy-based non-governmental organisation said some agents promised well-paying jobs in factories but ended up securing them jobs as general workers or labourers.
Local agents at village-level get commissions between Rs1,000 (RM87) and Rs2,000 (RM174), while agents in Chennai and Malaysia end up with a much larger amount.
He cited examples of workers who had been deported after employers abandoned them. There were also cases of workers protesting their plight at the Indian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur after being detained for not having valid travel documents.
"It is disappointing that our people are being exploited, but not much can be done to safeguard their rights."
Most workers who had been exploited were from the Ramnad, Sivagangai, Pudukottai, Tanjavur, Cuddalore and Kanyakumari districts in the southern part of Tamil Nadu.
Baskar said the organisation had printed more than 20 journals to create awareness among villagers of the risks involved in working abroad. He said the organisation had handled a total of 280 migrant workers cases involving Malaysia.
He said agents usually put up posters in villages to convince youths about the prospects of making money abroad. The recruits were usually promised work in air-conditioned factories, eight-hour jobs, food, accommodation in luxury hostels, medical benefits, week-ends off and year-end bonuses.
But reality was a totally different picture: Broken promises, poor accommodation, terrible food and a general lack of care.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India, Pudukottai district secretary M. Muthukumaran said the party planned to raise the plight of Indian migrant workers in Malaysia in the State Legislative Assembly soon.
"We think the problem has reached a serious level and something has to be done to safeguard the interest of locals. Otherwise, more workers will be affected."
By : ARULLDAS and SUGANTHI SUPARMANIAM
