Abdul Aziz Ismail, a member of the Selangor Anti-Human Trafficking Council, said he has been aware of such cases dating back to the 1990s, and was involved in some cases personally in the mid-2000s.
The companies were in the construction and plantations sector, he said.
“In one of the cases, over 40 workers had been working for around ten months and had yet to be paid,” he said, with the bosses getting them arrested and detained to avoid paying them the wages owed.
On Friday, home minister Hamzah Zainudin told reporters his ministry was looking into such allegations, with some businesses accused of tipping off the authorities to get their own workers arrested and detained or deported.
Abdul Aziz said some companies participate in frequent “cycling” of employees. “They replace their quotas. After a bunch get arrested, they get in contact with employment agents to replace them.”
He alleged there were instances of corruption among those involved in granting work passes and among employment agents, as a high turnover of workers allows parties to skim from the fees required when applying for permits.
Glorene Das, executive director of rights group Tenaganita, said the group had dealt with a number of similar cases, particularly in the construction sector.
“Many workers were arrested, charged, many were also whipped, then deported like criminals, and never paid. These cases were referred to us by NGOs in their country of origin, and sometimes their family and friends locally.”
She said she is aware of cases where refugees and asylum seekers are unethically recruited with promises of a fair wage upon a project’s completion, and paid small amounts throughout to keep them satisfied.
“Then when workers start demanding pay towards the end of the project, the raids happen.”
She said that harsh punishments must be handed down not just to employers, but the “bigger group of stakeholders that’s responsible” for the unscrupulous practice, including investors and recruiting agencies.
“Fines and compounds do not have an impact but taking away their licence for a period of time would work, as would freezing their bank accounts or naming and shaming perpetrators.”
She said it is high time the system for recruiting migrant workers was revaluated, with a need for a national labour migration policy to be established.