Over 170 Chinese laborers from 11 different provinces went to Malaysia looking for jobs but were swindled by phony temporary employment agencies. They flew back to China on April 15. Fuzhou’s Xinhua Net reported that 126 laborers, including over 20 women, arrived at the Changle Airport on April 15, 2004. The other 50 laborers from Jiangsu were to return on a different flight that same day.

It is reported that, the workers went to Malaysia in 2003 using tourist visas. After their visas expired, they still had not received the work permits promised before they went abroad. Thus, they were forced to stay in Malaysia illegally. They had to pay hefty administration fees and with no legal status or jobs, they have become homeless.

Ni Zhengwu, 41, is a farmer in Pingtan County, Fujian province. On March 3, 2003, after paying 28,000 yuan (US$3,380) in “administration fees” to a local employment agency, the agency applied for a tourist visa to Malaysia for him. The agency manager promised him a job in Malaysia and a permit that would allow him to work for two years. The salary was to be approximately 200 yuan (US$24.00) per day. However, after arriving in Malaysia the application for the job was repeatedly delayed. The monthly expenses the agency manager was paying Ni were not even sufficient to buy food.

Duan Jindong is from Dandong City in Liaoning Province. In May 2003, Wei Danmei told Duan that in Malaysia the monthly salaries are 5,000 yuan (US$603.00). Duan borrowed 20,000 yuan (US$2,414.00) to pay the fee required by an employment agency and flew to Malaysia with ten other people. Duan Jindong told us they were told the work permits would soon be applied for. Then they were told there had been some difficulties in obtaining the permits, and later they could not get any information at all. “The money we brought with us was nearly spent. So, we all started to work without our permits. Everyday we were very nervous, because if we were caught, we would be prosecuted. Later, when a local media exposed a Chinese laborer who had been using a fake work permit, we learned that Malaysia does not issue offers of employment to ordinary laborers from China. The work permits couldn’t be obtained in the first place and the agency had lied to us from the start.”

Guo Xinghai, from Jilin, said that the employment agency only handles tourist visas. The terms of such visas are very short. After arriving in Malaysia, the agency manager took their passports and return tickets to China. He claimed that they were needed to apply for the work permits. In actuality, we ended up being trapped in Malaysia. The Malaysian government specifies that illegal immigrants will be sent to detention centers. So even if you want to go back to China, you can’t.

A woman from Fuzhou that manages temporary workers said, “The use of tourist or business visas to work abroad is very dangerous. However, sometimes the individual’s desire to work abroad is so strong that they are taken advantage of by a phony employment agencies.”