VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Malaysia has launched an investigation to uncover how hundreds of migrant workers arrived from South Asia without jobs, despite having paid steep fees to get employment, officials and rights groups said.

The issue revives concerns over labour abuses in Malaysia, a key manufacturing hub at the heart of the global supply chain that has faced several accusations in recent years over exploitation of workers.

Hundreds of workers from Bangladesh and Nepal have arrived since December after paying up to 20,000 ringgit ($4,500) to middlemen to get employment, officials of two rights groups who interviewed dozens of the workers told Reuters.

Many took loans to pay recruitment fees, but are unable to start repaying them without jobs or salaries, the activists said, adding that on arrival, their passports had been taken away by recruitment agents.

"These workers are at high risk of forced labour and severe destitution," said independent labour activist Andy Hall, whose team has been in contact with the migrant workers.

Their plight was worsened by factors such as debt bondage, poor living conditions, isolation and limited freedom of movement after their passports were confiscated, he added.

The International Labour Organisation ranks deception, along with debt bondage stemming from the large recruitment fee, and passport seizure among its indicators of 'forced labour'.

The Malaysian government is investigating the matter, said Asri Rahman, the director general of its labour department, but declined to provide details until completion of the inquiry.

Last week, V. Sivakumar, the minister for human resources, visited a group of 226 Bangladeshi and Nepali workers who had been in the Southeast Asian country for 40 days without the jobs they had been promised.

He described as "appalling" the crowded accommodation of the workers, and vowed to find them jobs at the earliest, but did not identify the provider of the facilities.

NOT TRANSPARENT

The investigation comes as the five-month-old government of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim cracks down on corruption and looks to tackle labour abuse.

Two of Sivakumar's aides were arrested by anti-graft authorities this month over an investigation into recruitment of foreign workers. He too was questioned, and has promised to co-operate.

Malaysia has faced accusations of forced labour in manufacturing and palm oil production over the years, including some by the United States, which banned imports from several of its firms for such practices.

Bangladesh - a key source of migrants for Malaysia - called for more transparency by Kuala Lumpur to prevent its citizens from being cheated of jobs.

"If the Malaysian government's approval process for hiring foreign workers is transparent, not a single worker should be unemployed," its High Commission, or embassy, in Malaysia said in a Facebook post on Saturday.

The high commission said it compelled an employer to provide jobs for some of the migrants, while still working to get jobs for the others.

A Bangladeshi official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters there were a "few hundred" of its citizens stuck in Malaysia without jobs.

The Nepal embassy said it was working to find employment for a group of 125 of its citizens who had been left similarly stranded, and had also received such complaints from others. (Reuters)

Japan will keep calling for China to act responsibly on the world stage, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Thursday, a sign of Tokyo's deepening concern about stability in the Taiwan Strait following Beijing's recent military drills.

The comments from Kishida, after China conducted drills in the waters off Taiwan earlier this month, highlight Tokyo's growing alarm about the possibility of an attack on nearby Taiwan.

Japan would "continue to call on China to take the responsibility it should be taking as a major country on the world stage," Kishida said during a roundtable interview with members of the foreign media.

"Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is not just important for Japan, but the international community and the world more broadly as well," he said.

"We have been consistent with our position on Taiwan, that any issues should be resolved peacefully through dialogue. In any case... we will comply with our constitution, international laws, and our domestic laws including the relevant defence laws."

Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) nations met in Japan this week and urged Beijing to "abstain from threats, coercion intimidation and the use of force".

Beijing, which views Taiwan as Chinese territory and has not renounced the use of force to take the democratically governed island, has rebuffed the G7 comments as gross interference in its internal affairs.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen says only the island's people can decide their future.

COMPLICATED POSITION

Kishida also stressed the importance of stability between China and the United States, illustrating Japan's sometimes complicated position as both Washington's closest ally in Asia and a major Chinese trading partner. Japan has joined the United States in putting export restrictions on chip-making tools but in doing so avoided mentioning China so as not to antagonise its neighbour.

Kishida also said Japan was calling on China to allow for the return of a Japanese executive detained there. Chinese authorities detained the executive from pharmaceutical company Astellas Pharma Inc (4503.T) in late March.

Likewise, he said he hoped Russia would "correct" its actions over the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

Kishida, who was targeted with an explosive device while campaigning over the weekend, said it was important to revisit security ahead of the G7 leaders summit in Hiroshima next month.

He said he hoped to see deeper discussions on same-sex marriage in Japan's parliament, although he stopped short of throwing his weight behind the issue, saying situations in individual countries also needed to be considered. ($1 = 134.5600 yen). (Reuters)

China is formulating plans to boost the recovery and expansion of consumption, the state planner's spokesperson Meng Wei said on Wednesday, signaling officials are worried about weak demand despite a sharp rebound in retail sales.

China's economy grew at a faster-than-expected pace in the first quarter, as businesses and consumers came out of crippling pandemic disruptions, although headwinds from a global slowdown point to a bumpy ride ahead.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) pledged to promote a sustained recovery in consumption.

"Currently, we are working on drafting documents on the recovery and expansion of consumption, mainly focusing on key areas such as stabilising big-ticket consumption, enhancing service consumption and expanding rural consumption," said Meng.

Meng, at a news conference, also mentioned stabilising of automobile consumption, which was a "big part" of supporting consumption, by promoting new energy vehicles to rural areas.

Although official data showed retail sales rose at a faster pace in March compared to the previous month, policymakers remain concerned that the lack of demand is adding uncertainty to the economic growth.

"The international environment is still complex and ever-changing, constraints from insufficient domestic demand are obvious and the foundation for economic recovery is not solid," said statistics bureau spokesperson Fu Linghui on Tuesday. (Reuters)

Women pedal sewing machines, deftly lining up seams and pleats as they assemble brightly coloured dresses for young girls at an orphanage in Pakistan, in preparation for Eid al-Fitr, which ends the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Yet as an economic crisis forces people to tighten their belts, fewer find themselves able to afford charity donations for the approaching festival, usually a time of generosity.

"This year no dress came from outside," said Laiba, a 16-year-old who lives in the home in the southern city of Karachi, as she was being measured for her clothes.

"But Bhabi purchased us unstitched cloth which we will wear after stitching here," she added, referring by an affectionate name to Saba Edhi, who is in charge of the network of orphanages across the South Asian nation.

"It is good," added Laiba, who goes by one name. She is one of about 30 residents of the home who said they were glad to get new shoes and clothes, despite the rising cost of living.

Edhi, who was helping to embroider the clothes, said she had to dip into savings to cover the cost of the Eid gifts, as this year no donations of readymade garments or unstitched cloth had come in, unlike previous years.

"We purchased some readymade items and unstitched cloth, jewellery, bangles, shoes and other things from our own funds."

The crisis drove inflation to a record high of 35% in March, following a depreciating rupee currency, a rollback in subsidies and higher tariffs, while food inflation rose to more than 47%.

"Slowly, the hardships are increasing," said philanthropist Faisal Edhi, the head of Pakistan's largest charity operation, the Edhi Foundation, which runs the orphanages, home to more than 8,000 children.

The three truckloads of donated items, such as old clothes, shoes and other household effects that the Edhi centres in Karachi usually received every week have dwindled to just one now, he added.

"We are worried," he said. "We are trying to get more donations but people have tightened the purse strings, and we are receiving fewer items as donations now."

With less than a month's worth of foreign exchange reserves, Pakistan awaits a bailout tranche of $1.1 billion from the IMF delayed since November over policy changes sought by the lender.

That is part of a $6.5-billion bailout package approved in 2019, which analysts say is critical for the nation of 220 million to avert default on external payment obligations.

Still, despite growing pressure on the Foundation's resources, Edhi was undaunted.

"We will stand with our country at this moment of distress and we will try to fulfill needs with our limited resources," he said. (Reuters)