Last Call For Migrant Workers! KLIA Sees Surge Ahead Of Deadline

The extra migrant worker crowd at KLIA was due to employers rushing to bring them in before the deadline on Friday, 31 May, but not all workers have confirmed jobs.

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Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) has been facing a huge influx of migrant workers arrivals for the past few days. Pictures online showed groups of migrant workers gathered at the terminal gates with some sitting and lying on the floor.

The sudden surge is due to employers rushing to get these workers in before a deadline today (31 May).

According to the Immigration Department, 2,500 migrant workers have arrived each day since 22 May and the figures are increasing to between 4,000 and 4,500 on Monday (27 May). Usually, there are only 500 to 1,000 daily arrivals of migrant workers.

The number of arrivals is expected to increase further, as airlines have reportedly added flights to meet demand.

The immigration department said all migrant workers arriving in Malaysia need to be vetted and undergo health check-ups at KLIA.

They urge employers to fully cooperate by being present to settle their workers’ immigration process, adding that this would help reduce congestion in arrival halls.

Meanwhile, immigration officers were told to speed up the vetting and validation process and provide food and water for the migrant workers at the airport.

The activist group, Tenagakita, said its consultant was shocked by the situation at the airport. It appears many migrant workers arrived without knowing the status of their employment, a recurring issue in previous years.

This means the workers do not have immediate employment or employers ready for them and are likely trapped in debt bondage.

Why was the deadline brought forward?

The deadline to bring in migrant workers was brought forward to 31 May in line with a decision to cancel employer’s quotas for migrant workers who have not obtained entry visas.

On 8 March, Home Minister Saifuddin Nastion Ismail said this would enable the government to accurately determine the need for foreign manpower in the country before opening up the new quotas to bring in more foreign workers.

While the reasoning seems sound, industry players and activists criticised the move. They cited that the visa application took months to process and the prospect of missing the deadline could drive employers to cut corners in bringing in the already vulnerable migrant worker group.

Last December, hundreds of Bangladeshi workers who were duped marched to the police station in Pengerang, Johor. Image: TRP File

Calls to treat migrant workers well

There were also reminders to protect the rights and well-being of migrant workers in light of the incident in Pengerang, Johor.

Last December, hundreds of Bangladeshi workers marched to file a report at Bayu Damai police station. The group was duped into coming to Malaysia for jobs that did not exist. The story drew attention because the workers were initially arrested.

According to Free Malaysia Today, there’s also a larger issue of fake companies, allegedly run by criminal networks, hiring migrant workers from Bangladesh to work in Malaysia.

These vulnerable workers are subjected to debt bondage, ill-treatment, and forced labour. Most of the time, they had to put up with poor lodgings as well.

After all the trouble they went through, 733 Bangladeshi migrant workers were awarded more than RM1 million in unpaid wages after being duped.

The workers initially asked for RM2.1 million but their inability to speak in English or Bahasa Malaysia well helped recruitment agencies to steer negotiations in their favour.

Abuse of migrant workers still continues to this day and must be stopped. Image: Malay Mail

In the meantime, Malaysia’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, Nadzirah Osman, said 692 of the 733 affected workers had been placed with new employers through the Johor labour department as of 17 May.

Nadzirah added that the government has taken measures to prevent the repeat of a similar issue.

Aside from regular business inspections, the government would blacklist employers based on labour department recommendations, regulate recruitment agencies, and address the complaints made at the labour department offices or through the Working for Workers (WFW) mobile application.

In addition, the labour department has rescued and relocated foreign workers who have been exploited by not being given proper jobs, salaries, or adequate accommodation.

Nadzirah said the labour department had relocated 1,664 foreign workers to new employers in 2023. As of April 2024, 910 foreign workers have been relocated to new employers.

According to Malay Mail, some workers in Pengerang still face intimidation and abuse by their current employers. This still happened despite the workers being given better accommodations.

The workers also claimed that some of their peers had been abducted or had run away.

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