Foreign workers come to Malaysia for better job opportunities and a better quality of life. However, a lot of times, we hear about how this group of people are mistreated by their employees and this is an instance of it.
According to Berita Harian, a factory that deals with manufacturing plastic-based things was checked by the authorities on suspicions that they have failed to provide housing for the 325 foreign workers on their premises.
Mohd Asri Abdul Wahab, the Deputy Director (Operations) of the Ministry of Human Resources has said that the company only provided 5 living spaces in the storage space for their foreign workers; it is said that each space houses 65 people on average and this has been ongoing since 2021.
After the operation, the deputy director said that the spaces are only suitable to be lived by a maximum of 6 people, with a bathroom.
It was also discovered that the workers were not given any lockers to store their valuables and there were rooms where there were no beds provided.
“The sleeping space is also the cooking space where a refrigerator, chillies and onion can be found.”
“There’s also a lot where there are no walls at the shower space and it’s located right next to their kitchen.”
The deputy director said that they will be opening up investigation papers and the employer can be fined up to RM50,000 for each of the “living spaces”. This is in accordance with the Workers’ Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities (Amendment) Act 2019 (Act 446).
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