Bangladeshi migrant workers in Malaysia seek unpaid wages from supplier to Japanese companies

Around 280 Bangladeshi migrant workers in Malaysia are demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars in back wages and other money owed to them after their former employer, a plastic parts supplier to big Japanese companies, closed down.

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The workers at Kawaguchi Manufacturing's factory in Port Klang, Malaysia's largest port city, were left stranded when the company withheld their wages for up to eight months before shutting down late last year. The workers have filed complaints in Malaysia and back home in Bangladesh. Such disputes have become a diplomatic sore point between Bangladesh and Malaysia, drawing scrutiny on a small but powerful group of recruitment agencies and middlemen who monopolise such jobs. Asif Nazrul, an advisor to Bangladesh's Expatriate Welfare Ministry, met with Malaysia's Home Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong in Kuala Lumpur last week. Officials were due to meet again on Wednesday in Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital. The interim government that took over in Bangladesh after the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has placed a higher priority on the plight of migrant workers who often get trapped in debt after paying exorbitant recruitment fees to work in dismal conditions for little pay.

Labour advocates say the situation is worsening as more people from across South Asia, sometimes losing their livelihoods owing to climate change, seek work in Southeast Asia. Trade tensions between the U.S. and China have accelerated that trend as factories move from China to places in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and elsewhere.