According to fellow Nepali workers, Karna Bahadur Gharti Magar of Rolpa died on Sunday inside JCY SDB BHD Company, the employer and producer of computer parts located in Johor Baru. He died due to delay in his treatment caused by company negligence. [break]
Nepali ambassador to Malaysia Rishi Adhikari told Republica that a violent protest launched at Johor Baru industrial area by migrant workers was called off after employers and outsourcing companies agreed to provide compensation of Ringgit 10,000 to the dead man´s family.
Similarly, the employer company has also agreed to provide a minimum salary of 546 Ringgit per month along with an ambulance service for emergency cases and prompt treatment for all workers at a clinic on the factory premises. Nepali workers have been complaining that the company has been providing only 428 Ringgit as salary, violating a labor agreement.
“We are also lobbying for Foreign Worker Insurance payment of 23,000 Ringgit to the family of the deceased as he died of fever while on duty,” said Adhikari. Nepali workers are claiming that Magar died as security guards did not allow him to be taken to hospital on time.
Investigations showed that the 20-year-old died while being treated at Sultanah Aminah Hospital.
Johor police Criminal Investigation Department chief Datuk Amer Awal said the victim had hid his sickness from his employer.
Ambassador Adhikari said that though the protest was in violation of Malaysian law, local authorities were not going to take action against the protesting workers for criminal offence.
“They are not going to take action against those taking part in the agitations as companies have been facing a shortage of workers since Malaysia imposed restrictions on Bangladeshi workers for the last few months,” said Adhikari.
On August 4, another Nepali worker, Buddi Lal Mahato, also died due to lack of timely treatment. He was working at Lii Hen Furniture Company and suffered from excessive fever.
Surya Bhandari, labor attaché at the Nepali mission in Kuala Lumpur, said that out of 8,000 workers employed at JCY Company, some 3,000 are Nepalis.
A total 183 Nepali workers died in Malaysia during 2009, mainly through illness and suicides. Till June this year, 81 Nepali workers have lost their lives in that country.
´The Star´, a Malaysia-based newspaper, reported that workers from Nepal, Myanmar, Vietnam, Bangladesh and India had demonstrated at Tebrau industrial area to press a four-point demand including salary hike, prompting local police to intervene.
Police numbering 200 deployed at the scene managed to prevent the violent protest from spreading beyond the compound, the newspaper said.
After violent protests on Sunday by workers who destroyed the guard post and pelted onlookers with stones and garbage, the Nepali embassy took the initiative to resolve the problem.
Jinur Biswas, 26, a Bangladeshi who works at JCY Company, said the workers wanted their wages increased from 420 to 546 Ringgit per month.
“We also want the company to provide a mini-clinic within the compound and pay about 25,000 Ringgit to the family of any worker who dies here,” he said, adding that prompt action to aid sick workers was needed.
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