Antislavery Usable Past

There are an estimated 212,000 people living in modern slavery in Malaysia (GSI 2018). The majority of those exploited are migrant and undocumented workers in the country. Foreign workers constitute more than 20 percent of the Malaysian workforce and typically migrate voluntarily—often illegally—to Malaysia from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Burma, Indonesia, the Philippines, and other Southeast Asian countries, mostly in pursuit of better economic opportunities. Some of these migrants are subjected to forced labour or debt bondage by their employers, employment agents, or informal labour recruiters when they are unable to pay the fees for recruitment and associated travel.

Ashraf and six other workers travelled to Malaysia from Bangladesh after they were given three-year contracts to work with a company at a wage of 30 ringgit ($8.75) per day. His passport was taken and upon arrival he was told the job he had been promised did not exist.