KUALA LUMPUR: Four Bangladeshi workers lodged a police report yesterday against their employers for failing to provide them with jobs after seven months.
The men said they were part of a group of 161 workers who had been in the country for more than seven months and that their employer had failed to provide them with any jobs or salary.
According to a FMT report, the men lodged a police report at the Sentul police station.
"From the first day we entered Malaysia until today, we have not been given any jobs or salary.
"We are still jobless. We don't have any money to buy food."
The men said their passports were being held by their employer, who wanted them to pay RM6,000 to get their passports back.
They were accompanied by representatives from migrant rights group North-South Initiative and Parti Sosialis Malaysia.
"We hope the police will intervene in this matter and we hope to get our passports back from the employer," they said.
In February, the Human Resources Ministry issued a statement that employers were still responsible for paying the wages of workers brought in but not provided with employment, as reiterated by the Human Resources Minister on Jan 16.
The statement was issued following a case where 171 Bangladeshi workers in Pengerang were detained while they were marching to the police station to press charges against their agents after being unemployed after three to six months.
The company responsible for bringing in the men was then blacklisted and its remaining quotas revoked.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution and Human Resources Minister Steven Sim had issued a joint statement in January, which said these actions were taken to ensure employers fulfil their responsibilities towards their foreign workers.