Charles Santiago claimed that these stress-induced mental health issues lead to migrants taking their own lives in some cases.

The former Klang MP said most of the foreign workers borrow large sums of money in their home countries, usually a sum equivalent to RM30,000, just for a chance to make a living overseas with the hope of supporting their families back home.

Some even mortgage their homes and borrow from loan sharks, he added.

“And when they come to Malaysia, they realise they cannot pay their debts because they don’t have a job here. The stress levels are massive and I don’t blame them for feeling this way,” he told FMT.

Santiago was commenting on a recent report about a Bangladeshi man who reportedly died of a heart attack in Sepang, Selangor while attempting to return home, six months after he was duped into coming to Malaysia for a non-existent job.

Shofiqul Islam, 33, had also endured poor living conditions, apart from having his passport withheld by the company that had supposedly brought him in.

Prior to his death, Shofiqul and 13 others sought legal recourse from the labour department but were told it could not do anything as the company involved was based in Johor Bahru.

Commenting on the practice of some companies who withheld the passports of their foreign workers, Santiago said these firms did so to prevent the labourers from job-hopping.

He claimed that in some cases they would charge these foreign workers a hefty fee, between RM2,000 to RM4,000, to have their passports returned.

Santiago went on to question the labour department’s commitment in helping Shofiqul and the other 13 migrant workers over their predicament, saying that no rule says it cannot take up a case in another state.

“You can, it just requires more time to gather all the information.”

Santiago said that the human resources minister needs to wake up and “smell the burnt coffee” in the fact that the officers under his ministry were inefficient and not addressing the issue.