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Malaysia – Foreign workers arrested following riot over working conditions

28 August 2014

Malaysian police have arrested 42 men after a riot of up to 1,000, mostly Nepalese, workers sparked fires and destroyed parts of an electronics export factory, reports Reuters.

The riot broke out in the southern industrial hub of Johor state on Tuesday at a factory run by JCY International, a Malaysian firm that makes parts for electronic giants including Samsung, Hitachi, and Western Digital.

Workers accused the firm of negligence after an employee at a nearby JCY factory died last Thursday after complaining of chest pains, according to local news reports.

The unrest spilled over to the firm's other factory in Kulaijaya, police said, culminating in a stand-off between riot police and protesters.

Mohad Idris Samsuri, the district’s Deputy Police Chief, told Reuters: "This was caused by a misunderstanding between the employer and employees over the terms of their work.”

Those arrested will be charged under the country’s anti-rioting law.

JCY, which specialises in manufacturing parts for hard disk drives, issued a statement to the stock exchange saying that the unrest would not impact its business: "The company is currently taking active steps and measures to address the above matter and to reach an amicable settlement with the workers.”

Malaysia's record on treating foreign workers is currently under scrutiny after the US State Department downgraded the country in June to Tier 3 in its 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report, triggering potential sanctions.

The report cited widespread problems of forced labour and a lack of enforcement by the authorities as major reasons for the downgrade.

Malaysia's large electronics, agriculture, and construction industries rely heavily on unskilled foreign labour from countries, such as Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

The immigrants often arrive in Malaysia heavily in debt after paying high fees to recruitment agencies and are usually given substantially lower salaries and even different jobs to the ones they were promised, according to studies by advocacy groups.