Claims of modern day slavery in estates

GEMAS, Oct 15 — Recent news reports claimed that there were at least five forced labour cases in Negeri Sembilan estates but only three made it to the court due to the lack of evidence.

Absence of crucial evidence like the birth certificate that could verify the victims as Malaysian citizens had made the cases failed to ‘hold water’ in the courts of justice, said the English newspaper.

Incidents of forced labour happened when unscrupulous contractors or agents took the advantage when recruiting workers for jobs in the estates.

The irony is that most of the victims were Malaysians, and not foreigners as initially believed, said Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam.

Poverty and illiteracy have further compounded this problem, resulting in what can be described as modern day slavery as what had been claimed to had occurred in an estate Sungai Senarut in Gemas, close to the Negeri Sembilan-Johor border.

A similar incident was reported in Jempol, not far from here.

MINISTER’S ATTENTION

These reports on modern day slavery have drawn the attention from the minister.

When approached by Bernama, Subramaniam said three reports on such cases had came to his attention and he had issued a directive reminding workers’ recruitment agencies to be registered with the ministry.

"They should be registered (with the ministry) and so far some 30 per cent had registered with us and the whole process is expected to be completed by the year end”, he said.

Subramaniam said he had also issued a directive requiring all estate owners to keep proper documentation of their workers’ particulars like their salary slip and that on deductions for the Social Security Organisation (Socso) and Employees Provident Fund (EPF).

"With these measures, we should be able to clamp down on forced labour and enable the police to take action with the evidence available.

"Previously it was difficult (for the authorities to take action), as even though reports were made but there were lack of evidence", he said.

ISOLATED INCIDENTS

Subramanian said there were some 200 workers’ recruitment agencies nationwide and the incidents of forced labour were isolated cases.

So far such cases were reported to have occurred in only two or three estates, he said.

Whether the workers were recruited by middlemen or direct by the estate owners, Subramaniam reminded the employers that the workers should be well treated and given the privileges and benefits due to them.

Meanwhile the Segamat MI divisional head, A. Nadarajah, told Bernama that the forced labour case reported at the Sungai Senarut estate involved allegations that the workers were forced to work beyond their working ours and they were also assaulted.

However the police did not find any evidence that could support the allegations, he said. — Bernama