DHAKA, Bangladesh: Approximately 100 Bangladeshi workers employed by Malaysian companies staged a protest on Monday to demand unpaid wages, fair compensation, and an end to the alleged mistreatment by their Malaysian employers.

The Migrant Welfare Network, a Bangladeshi migrant group based in Malaysia and Bangladesh, organized the demonstration at the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment in Dhaka.

The protesters claimed that the event aimed to highlight widespread mistreatment of migrant workers in Malaysia, one of Southeast Asia's wealthiest nations.

They sought unpaid wages and compensation for 431 Bangladeshi workers allegedly exploited by two Malaysian companies: Mediceram and Kawaguchi Manufacturing.

The Associated Press was unable to immediately reach the companies for comment.

Many factories in Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries rely on migrant workers, often from Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Nepal, to fill labor-intensive jobs in manufacturing, plantations, or construction.

Local workers typically avoid such jobs due to their poor conditions and low wages.

The Migrant Welfare Network urged Bangladeshi and Malaysian authorities, as well as international buyers, to take immediate action to ensure that workers receive the wages owed to them, fair compensation, and 'justice for systemic abuses.'

The group stated in a Monday press release that a complaint had been filed with the Malaysian government against Australian company Ansell, a major customer of Mediceram.

Ansell manufactures gloves for medical, industrial, and domestic use.

Another complaint was filed against Kawaguchi, which supplied plastic components to large Japanese companies such as Sony Group.

In May, around 280 Bangladeshi migrant workers from Kawaguchi demanded hundreds of thousands of dollars in back wages and other monies owed to them after the company closed five months earlier.

Workers at Kawaguchi's factory in Port Klang filed complaints in Malaysia and Bangladesh, claiming that the company withheld their wages for up to eight months before closing.

This was after Sony and Panasonic Holdings Corp., two of Kawaguchi’s main customers, halted orders due to allegations that the workers were mistreated.

A former employee of Kawaguchi, Omar Faruk, who began working in 2022, stated that initially, they paid part of their salary as food expenses.

After withholding further payments, the company contemplated shutting down.

Eventually, they filed a complaint at the Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia.

Harun Or Rasid Liton, who worked for Mediceram, accused the company of not paying despite an order by the Malaysian Labor Court.

According to him, the court ruled that the company should pay 1,000 ringgit per month, but they only paid the first installment and then stopped.

Eventually, he had no choice but to return to Bangladesh, now facing severe hardship in maintaining his family.

Reports of abuse against Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia have been widespread, and disputes between employees and companies have become a diplomatic point of contention between Bangladesh and Malaysia.

Workers' rights groups have demanded stringent scrutiny of the powerful group of recruitment agencies and middlemen who monopolize such jobs.