Sixty-five Myanmar workers return home after being trapped in Malaysia

Sixty-five Myanmar workers return home after being trapped in Malaysia

Published on Thursday, 09 January 2014 21:46

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Workers seen at Yangon Airport after their return home from Malaysia where they were trapped in a warehouse during a conflict with Indonesian migrant workers. (Photo – EMG)

YANGON—Sixty-five of the 98 Myanmar migrant workers who were trapped in a warehouse during a conflict with Indonesian migrant workers returned from Malaysia yesterday on an Air Asia flight.

Forty-eight workers were scheduled to return on the 8 a.m. flight and 21 workers on the 11:15 am flight. However, four of the workers ran away while awaiting departure at the airport in Malaysia, according to Ko Lay, executive member of the Oversea Employment Service Entrepreneur Association, which brought the workers back home from Malaysia.

"Four workers ran away from Malaysia airport while they were waiting for departure. I only knew that they had run away at 4 a.m. They disappeared while the Myanmar embassy was coming to give 1,000 ringgit each for the workers to buy meals. I had to hide their passports and bring them home," said Ko Lay.

"I don't know why they ran away. They have become overstay [workers] now. They will be arrested and sent to prison if they work illegally."

The workers were sent to Malaysia by Arbarfi Oversea Employment Agency, Harmony Oversea Employment Agency, and Star Triangle agency. The workers will owe more than Ks 100 million to their employer for breaching their three-year contract, but those costs will be covered by their agencies.

Phyo Wai, one of the migrant workers who returned home, described the incident that led to the conflict one night.

"When we came back to our dorm, three Indonesians were creating a ruckus inside the dorm. When we went inside the dorm, all of our belongings including bicycles, shoes, and clothing had been set on fire. We didn't even dare go outside to take a bath after we came back from work. The Indonesian workers threw rocks at our dorms, even though there were security guards. All of us moved to the warehouse the next morning as we didn't dare stay in our dorms."

The returned workers can contact the Oversea Employment Service Entrepreneur Association if they want to work inside the country or abroad.

The conflicted began on December 23 with a dispute between a Myanmar worker and Indonesian workers at a shipyard in Sarawak State, near the Malaysia-Brunei border. Ninety-eight Myanmar workers had to hide in a warehouse near the shipyard after Indonesian workers tried to attack them with various types of weapons.

http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/sixty-five-myanmar-workers-return-home-after-being-trapped-in-malaysia/