Charles Santiago said the protest reflected a failure to enforce labour laws, which could harm Malaysia’s reputation in the global market.
“The labour department should have been at the gates of Kawaguchi Manufacturing Sdn Bhd when reports that the workers were not being paid first started coming in,” he told FMT.
“This is a failure of enforcement, and this is not the only case. It’s happening everywhere. We are sending the wrong message, that the government of Malaysia is not taking forced labour issues seriously,” said Santiago, who is co-chairman of Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights.
On Friday, Selangor police chief Hussein Omar Khan told FMT the authorities had dispersed a peaceful gathering of 250 Kawaguchi workers who were demanding that the management pay them their outstanding salaries.
However, a video obtained from a worker at the scene showed a group of workers still gathered outside the plant at night.
FMT understands that the workers called off the protest only after midnight, following persuasion from the police and officials of the Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur.
The protest, involving around 250 workers, came after workers complained about unpaid wages totalling over RM800,000 since May.
The company was subject to an investigation by the labour department in September, which found evidence that it had not paid more than 200 of its Bangladeshi workers since April, and had also retained their passports.
Santiago said that if the human resources ministry had intervened earlier to mediate between the workers and management, the wage dispute could have been resolved without the need for public protests.
“But now, there are videos all over the place of the workers protesting. Every media (outlet) has got these videos. People will write about it, and then that brings more questions about modern slavery or forced labour,” he said.
Kawaguchi is reported to be a supplier of components to Sony, Panasonic, and Daikin. The three firms said in September they were looking into allegations of delayed salary payments, forced labour practices and human rights violations at Kawaguchi.