Hundreds of Nepali migrant workers in Malaysia have been stranded after their company was shut down Thursday midnight. More than 500 migrant workers including 370 Nepalis had been working with E W Plastic Sdn Bhd that was shut down.
According to the workers, they are yet to be informed of the cause, the workers said.
“We are left in high and dry after the company closed. We knew of the shut down only when we went to work on Friday,” said a Nepali worker, Ram Chandra Sharma of Syangja. Sharma had been working with the company for the past one-and-half years.
The workers said that representatives of the company are out of contact. Of the total Nepali workers, who lost their jobs, 170 are women.
Some workers complained that they were not paid their salary for months and that they are yet to get their passports. “Most of us have not been paid for long,” said Bir Bahadur Chand Thakuri of Biratnagar. Thakuri had been working in the company for the past 12 years.
“We were sent back from work on Thursday saying that electricity went off. Those who worked in night shift were also asked to go back to their quarters,” he said. There were rumours that the company was closed after it failed to pay back the debt taken from a bank, he added.
The Nepali workers said that they are finding it hard to sustain themselves without a job. “We are yet to clear bills at a nearby grocery and have no idea when the representatives are getting back to us.”
According to the worker, they had informed the Nepali embassy in Malaysia of their situation two days ago, but have not heard back since then. It has been learnt that company agents are working to engage the workers in other jobs or repatriate them.
The workers said that the agents on Tuesday have started collecting names of those victims who want to engage in other jobs or return home.
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