Never did he expect that he would be smuggled in as an undocumented worker and forced to do hard labour for six long months.
Ahmad told FMT things only got worse for him after the June 30 deadline passed for employers to register illegal workers under their care.
“My bosses told us not to go to work. They shifted us to another place far away.
“About 20 of us were put in one room. Some of them had come with me from India. We were told we couldn’t leave the building now but could renovate an apartment upstairs if we wanted to get paid.”
Ahmad, who has an MBA in sales and marketing, said he came to Malaysia expecting a better future.
“But I was forced to oil and grease machines in a factory instead. I did all sorts of hard labour too,” he added.
“We didn’t want to do this, but they took away our salaries. They threatened to sack us too. What choice did we have? We didn’t have food for days, at times, so we had no choice but to give in.”
Immigration authorities arrested 1,475 illegal workers and 28 employers between July 1 and 6 in 595 operations nationwide. The crackdown is still underway amid heavy backlash from some groups.
Ahmad said things were just as bad before the crackdown, but given the current scrutiny on foreign workers, his employers were making efforts to hide them from the public eye – sending them away to work “in the shadows”.
He said he was initially placed in Pasir Gudang, Johor, where a number of Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani workers were already there. They too were disgruntled and disappointed with their new jobs.
He and the rest of the migrant workers were shifted to an IT park in Forest City, Gelang Patah, after the immigration crackdown.
Ahmad admitted he was a fool for agreeing to be smuggled in after employing the services of an agent to help him sort out the paperwork, but said he had tried to remedy the situation.
“Once, we asked them for a proper working permit and they told us to fork out RM8,000,” he said.
As he was barely making ends meet with his mediocre salary, he said, this was nearly impossible.
“Our bosses regularly deducted our promised salaries. I expected at least something over RM2,000. I was supposed to get RM75 on a daily basis too.
“But that didn’t work out. When we asked for our full salary, they threatened to sack us.”
Ahmad and some of his fellow workers have since returned to India, but even that was not easy.
For one, some of them did not have their passports with them – or their promised salaries to purchase air tickets.
“But all of us were forced out one day after they told us to vacate the apartment. So we took a Grab and went to the city.
“Some of us asked for our passports but they didn’t get it back. So they had to stay. The lucky few, like me, got money from our families and got airline tickets and returned home.
“I am in tears right now as I recall all that they put us through during those days. I am 42 years old. I have never done anything like this in my life. It was too much for me.”
Having been around workers in a situation similar to his, Ahmad said he knew a majority of employers were not paying migrant workers.
“These men are openly involved in human trafficking in the name of manpower engagement. There are thousands of workers like me. Please help get them back to their families,” he said.
“My purpose here in telling this story is to get people like me out of this boat and punish these agents. Take away their licences.”
Employer tells horror story of helper taken in immigration raid