Masum Ali from Bhairamara, Kushtia, went to Malaysia as a laborer in January. For the first two months, he couldn't find any work and had to endure a sort of 'imprisonment' while being shuffled between various brokers.
In the third month, he finally secured a job with a company, but all his documents, including his passport, were confiscated.
During this time, he kept his wife informed about the situation back in Kushtia, telling her that he couldn't handle the excessive work pressure.
“I worked from morning till night, and often I was called in the middle of the night to work. Meals were inadequate, and there was constant verbal abuse and physical violence,” said Masum's wife, Ratna Begum.
Ratna Begum told the BBC that after working for a month at the new company, her husband attempted to escape, but he was caught. She claims that after this, he began to face physical abuse. For the past month, she has had no news of her husband.
“A few days before Eid in April, my husband suddenly called me. He said he was being severely beaten and blood was oozing from the side of his ear. He showed me through a video call and said they would kill him. 'Save me,' he pleaded. Just then, the call dropped, and I haven’t heard from him since,” she recounted.
The broker through whom Masum went to Malaysia also resides there. Ratna tried to contact him to save her husband, but he couldn’t provide any information either.
Ratna Begum is at a loss about what to do or where to go. She doesn't even know if her husband is alive or dead.
Every year, Malaysia is one of the key destinations for labor export from Bangladesh, with over 1.4 million Bangladeshis going there as workers. Many of these workers have reported facing fraud and human rights violations upon arrival, a concern that is not new.
However, the recent surge in such incidents has prompted various international organizations, including the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to speak out.
But what kind of conditions are Bangladeshi workers encountering once they arrive in Malaysia? And why are they subjected to such abuse in the country? These are pressing questions that need to be addressed.
The Experience of Being 'Sold' for Two Lakh Taka
Mannan Mia (a pseudonym) went to Malaysia eight months ago from Dhaka. He traveled with 35 others on the same flight, all under the same company.
Before their departure, they had a contract with a recruiting agency that specified their salary and the name of the employer company.
However, upon arriving in Malaysia, that contract became ineffective. Mannan claims that each of them was sold to a different company for nearly two lakh taka per person. In this new arrangement, they were offered wages that were less than half of what had been promised.
The Experience of a Bangladeshi Worker Being 'Sold' for Two Lakh Taka in Malaysia
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