Johoreans were feeling uneasy seeing a large group of foreigners “parading” along a major street ahead of Christmas.

They posted the video on social media and lodged a police report. The police subsequently arrested these foreigners.

Upon further investigation, it was found that these Bangladeshis, 171 of them altogether, had entered the country legally. They said they had stayed in this country for over half a year but were not given any job arrangement by their agents.

Out of sheer frustration, they decided to walk out of their hostel to the police station some 10 km away, to file a complaint.

At this moment, these foreign workers have been handed over to the immigration department for further action.

These migrant workers have spent a fortune on their agents in order to secure a job in Malaysia. But as they are unfamiliar with this country, they are easily exploited. In the end, they have finished up all their money but there are still no jobs for them!

If not because they picked up their courage to walk out of their hostel and were prepared to report their plight to the police, they would have continued to be confined within their hostel, and be totally unknown to the world outside!

We have no idea how their living conditions are at the hostel, or whether their agents have arranged full boarding for them, or the hygiene at the hostel. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that these people have been illegally incarcerated. Their agents have not only violated the contracts but have also infringed on their human rights.

According to an NGO, Bangladeshis are particularly susceptible to job scams. It is imperative that relevant government departments conduct full investigations into such cases whether any inhuman activity has been involved.

NGOs have urged the government to slap temporary bans on countries involved in scamming workers. But before that, the government must deal with the agents and employers here strictly.

After the “walkout” by these migrant workers in Johor, Human Resources Minister Steven Sim said his ministry would within its jurisdiction provide humanitarian aid to these workers and arrange new jobs for them, while summoning their employer to assist in investigation.

But as the immigration department comes under the jurisdiction of the home affairs ministry, Sim said he would talk to minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail as soon as possible for a viable solution.

As Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said has said, the incident is just the tip of the iceberg, and there are many similar cases yet to be disclosed.

Azalina said from what she knew, there were about 2,500 foreign workers duped by job scammers in her constituency Pengerang, adding that she had contacted Steven Sim and hoped his ministry would carry out an investigation.

It is hoped that the Unity Government can effectively resolve the many problems faced by the migrant workers, with much stronger political will.

Now that the ministers involved have had the information, why is there no prompt action from the enforcement agencies?

Where there is demand, there is supply. As Malaysians are not interested in dirty, difficult and low-paying jobs, we need to rely on large numbers of foreign workers to accomplish such works.

In addition to migrant workers entering the country through legal means, there are more that have entered the country illegally.

Despite the regular raids conducted by the police and immigration department, the problem is not resolved, as the root causes are not removed.

The source of all evils lies with irresponsible agents and employers. Other than rounding up illegal workers, perhaps the authorities should also take stern actions against agents and employers who break the laws.

In the case of the 171 Bangladeshis in Johor, by right the police and immigration department should immediately arrest the agents involved, based on the information received.

Full investigation must be conducted on companies exploiting the workers while identifying whether there are insiders from within government agencies who have colluded with the agents by illegally issuing work permits to the workers.

Employers must recruit workers only through agencies registered with the human resources ministry to avert the traps of unlicensed agents. In the end, the employers do not get the workers they want, while the jobless foreigners are now treated as having illegally entered the country. The employers must immediately lodge a police report whenever they discover any irregularity in the hiring process.

Under the Private Employment Agencies Act 1981, any company involved in hiring activities must have the permits to do so. In view of that, employers must only recruit workers through the appropriate channels to ensure the legality of their agency partners.

The inhuman treatment of foreign workers in Malaysia is not a recent issue. It started to emerge in the 1980s, when the country’s economy was taking off in a zealous industrialisation drive, with massive numbers of foreign workers imported into the country to meet the explosive demands.

Successive administrations have pledged to look into this issue, including the current Unity Government, but with hardly any result.

Minister of Economy Rafizi Ramli says the government has introduced several measures such as labour market transformation, progressive wage model, industry training and multi-tiered levy system (MTL) to slowly reduce our dependence on migrant workers.

Meanwhile, the government is also mulling anti-Ali Baba law to ban the transfer of operating licenses to foreign workers, and put a stop to the rampant rent-seeking culture.

It is hoped that the Unity Government can effectively resolve the many problems faced by the migrant workers, with much stronger political will.