Malaysia: End debt bondage for migrant workers

The Malaysian government is proposing employers deduct 20% from migrant workers’ salaries.

The reason?

To prevent workers from fleeing their workplaces, or in other words, to control and restrict their movement – characteristics of modern slavery.

Many of the two million migrant workers in Malaysia are already trapped in debt bondage, unable to pay off exploitative recruitment fees. The proposal to cut 20% of their pay will make a bad situation worse.

Tenaganita, our local partner in Malaysia, has been speaking with migrant workers from Bangladesh who oppose the wage deductions:

“It is good to save some money, but 20% is too much. We need money to send to our families to live on.” -Bangladeshi, 40, Construction Worker

“How can I be sure that I will get my money when I go back home?” -Bangladeshi, 36, Petrol Station Attendant

On the verge of tears, a worker in a factory producing condoms, pleaded “What should I do?”. He explained that the US$250 a month for full-time work is not enough to eat, survive, support his family and pay back the fee to the recruiters who promised he’d be paid twice as much. Leaving risks incurring a penalty.¹

Astonishingly, Malaysia’s Human Resources Minister, M. Kulasegaran, argues the proposal is a “win-win situation” for employers and workers.²

Kulasegaran says that the wage deductions would be held in the Social Security Organization (SOSCO) and that migrant workers could claim them once their work permits expire and they leave the country.³

But migrant workers’ hard-earned pay should not be used as a bargaining chip.

“It is high time that the new government starts looking at foreign workers as humans and not as a commodity and comply with the international labor standards strictly instead of paying lip service.” said Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) Secretary-General, J Solomon.⁴

Amid recent reports of exploitation in Malaysian rubber glove factories⁵, Kulasegaran called for an independent audit of the sector.⁶ While this is a positive step, he continues to advance the 20% wage deduction proposal.

Kulasegaran submitted the proposal to the National Labor Advisory Council in December 2018, and the government is currently getting input from stakeholders before it is finalized. Now is the time to act. 

Tell Minister Kulasegaran: Cancel the 20% wage deduction proposal and give migrant workers their full pay.