Ok folks my apologies for not updating the blog the past three days. I am using a simple set up using my tablet computer. Here is a picture.
As you can see it is a much smaller screen and there is no mouse. I do have a remote keypad that helps me type. But it is not a laptop so the speed and options are limited. This slows down my uploading. I will be getting my new equipment in say another week and I hope I can resume updating the blog as usual.
Ok the following story has gone viral. I am a little late in posting it here. I have some comments.
First some highlights:
Bangla Police asked Malaysia to stop using B____net’s software and called for R___l, who had left Bangladesh, and A__n to be extradited. The pair played key roles in a system that “fraudulently extorted money” from workers, Bangladesh’s branch of Interpol wrote to Malaysia, causing them “physical and mental torture.” A___n hasn’t been extradited.
OSTB: Pasal apa pula belum extradite? Dulu India minta extradite ostad 'terrorist mentor' pun tak jadi. Sekarang Bangladesh minta extradite 'fraud' pun kita tak mahu layan kah?
the past 10 years, companies A--n founded have generated more than US$100 million (RM405 MILLION) in profit, filings show
OSTB: Sekarang boleh faham. RM405 Juta punya pasal.
More than a dozen of those interviewed suggest that figures in Malaysia’s ruling elite, including at the highest levels of government, are aware of the issues but don’t attempt to fix them because the recruitment fees line the pockets of everyone involved.
Malaysia’s recruitment from Bangladesh is one of the more extreme examples of private business people and government officials combining to squeeze workers, Bloomberg’s reporting suggests. It also has a unique backstory that shows how money and power intertwine in Malaysia.
BAGI PEMBACA MELAYU, MY COMMENTS IN MALAY DI HUJUNG SEKALI.
This is the explosive exposure by Bloomberg about the human trafficking of Bangladeshi migrant workers (dont worry - absolutely no action will be taken against any of the people and companies mentioned in this expose by Bloomberg) who are being exploited for money by an entire ecosystem of corruption in Malaysia. According to Charles Santiago and Latheefa Koya (two people mentioned in this article by Bloomberg) the corrupt ecosystem in Malaysia runs from top to bottom. This article by Bloomberg has since gone viral - I received it from two people. My own comments in Malay at the very end.
The Big Take
Everyone Gets a Cut, and Migrant Workers Pay the Price
Endemic corruption in the Bangladesh-Malaysia migrant worker system is enriching some, while trapping the hopeful in a punishing economy of exploitation.
By Anders Melin and Niki Koswanage
23 January 2026
The migrant worker — indebted, jobless and stranded in a foreign country — tried to keep it together as he picked up the phone to call his wife.
His name was Shofiqul Islam. He’d borrowed to pay US$4,400 (RM17,800) for a construction job that he’d been promised in Malaysia — an astronomical sum for a Bangladeshi farmhand. He’d gambled everything on leaving home to build a future for his two young children.
A representative for his employer had picked him up at the airport and he was eventually dropped at a run-down building outside Kuala Lumpur. Three flights up, past a rusty metal gate, was a room with a stack of worn mattresses, a gas stove, two hole-in-the-floor toilets and a hose for a shower. Wait here, the representative said. Then he disappeared.
After 147 days, the job still hadn’t materialized. Shofiqul’s employer had gone silent. His visa had expired. And with each passing day, the interest on his debt ticked up.
In the sparse dormitory that morning in February 2024, Shofiqul agonized over his situation. But once his wife and six-year-old daughter emerged on the screen he smiled, hiding his true feelings.
They spoke for an hour. He asked his daughter about the dragon fruit trees he’d planted near their home. Were they growing? Had white flowers sprung from them yet? And he consoled his wife: He’d heard the wait was almost over.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “The job will come very soon.”
Shofiqul was one of more than 800,000 Bangladeshi workers who went to Malaysia over the past decade, often going into debt to pay recruitment fees far higher than people from other countries, sometimes on the promise of jobs that never existed.
Interviews with more than 100 people, including current and former government officials, labor analysts, recruitment agents and Bangladeshi migrants, describe a recruitment process shaped by entrenched corruption and designed to extract as much money as possible from desperate workers, often leading to debt bondage, forced labor and human trafficking.
More than a dozen of those interviewed suggest that figures in Malaysia’s ruling elite, including at the highest levels of government, are aware of the issues but don’t attempt to fix them because the recruitment fees line the pockets of everyone involved. Most asked not to be identified discussing sensitive matters, with some citing fear of retribution.
A representative ...referred Bloomberg to the Ministry of Home Affairs, which didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment. Bangladesh’s government didn’t respond to requests for comment.
OSTB: Why should they comment? Who is Bloomberg?
Migrants the world over borrow to pay recruitment fees. They’re at risk wherever they go. But Malaysia’s recruitment from Bangladesh is one of the more extreme examples of private business people and government officials combining to squeeze workers, Bloomberg’s reporting suggests. It also has a unique backstory that shows how money and power intertwine in Malaysia.
Shofiqul was born in 1990 in Mulgram, a village hugging the bend of a river in western Bangladesh. A matchmaker paired him with a girl named Hosne Ara Khatun. They married and later fell in love while farming garlic, rice and jute. They had two children: a boy and a girl.
Whatever they earned they spent on daily needs. “He wanted to earn more,” Hosne Ara said. “He was desperate to go abroad.”
A village official introduced Shofiqul to a recruitment agent. The US$4,400 fee Shofiqul paid would be the equivalent of an American paying $140,000 for a job.
With a population of more than 170 million and not enough jobs, Bangladesh is a global supplier of workers. “Born in Bangladesh to serve all over the world,” reads a sign outside a government building in Dhaka, the capital.
Malaysia is a top destination. Migrant workers hold one in five jobs there, the US State Department says. They staff shops and factories. They toil on plantations. They help produce 25% of the world’s palm oil, 45% of its rubber gloves and more than $100 billion of electronics and semiconductors annually. They build the skyscrapers shaping Kuala Lumpur’s skyline and the data centers powering Southeast Asia’s AI revolution. “Without them, the economy would collapse,” said Charles Santiago, a former member of parliament in Malaysia who oversaw investigations into migrant-worker abuse as head of a parliamentary committee on human rights.
“But we treat them badly,” he said. They work at least six days a week, sometimes getting cheated on wages. They’re randomly searched by police. They live in crowded dormitories, abandoned buildings or even the garages of buildings they’re constructing. Few complain. They can’t risk losing their jobs because they need to repay their debts.
Of all these migrants, none owes more than those from Bangladesh.
Malaysia has been recruiting Bangladeshis since at least the 1980s, and people at every step of the process have always demanded unofficial payments, according to more than 30 people familiar with the matter. But migrants had to pay much more, the people said, after one man, also originally from Bangladesh, came to play a key role.
Bangladesh Is Malaysia’s Leading Source of Migrant Workers
His name is A____l I__am, but he goes by A__n. He’s a highly controversial member of Malaysia’s elite. Some people say he’s responsible for many of the troubles faced by incoming Bangladeshi migrant workers. In his first interview with global media in July, A__n told Bloomberg News that he has devoted his career to helping migrant workers — and the issues they experience have nothing to do with him.
In the past 10 years, companies A--n founded have generated more than US$100 million (RM405 MILLION) in profit, filings show. It’s unclear how wealthy he is. A__n didn’t respond to a request for comment on his wealth.
Before he became so powerful, A__n made the journey from Bangladesh himself, eventually arriving in Malaysia in 1988 at age 21. He worked tirelessly, according to four people who say they knew him then. They called him a smooth operator: understated, soft-spoken and charming, with a knack for cultivating relationships. Behind the affable veneer was a shrewd businessman, they
A few years in, he established a company providing worker housing and transportation. Later on, he started bringing in tens of thousands of workers himself.
In 2008, A__n founded a company called B____net. It developed software to digitize Malaysia’s paper-based recruitment. He pitched it to the government, saying it would curtail corruption.
Some government officials had doubts, suspecting A--n of exploiting migrant workers, N___m J___l, a Malaysian businessman hired to lobby for B____net, said in testimony in a lawsuit years later that accused him and others of trying to take over A__n’s business. (A__n’s side won and N___m’s side appealed. The suit was then settled on undisclosed terms. N___m declined to comment for this story.)
The International Labour Organization reviewed A__n’s system at his request in 2013. The United Nations body called it innovative and comprehensive but not “fool-proof in protecting migrants from excessive fees,” adding it “does not know of the credentials or competence of B____net,” according to comments reviewed by Bloomberg News.
Two years later, Malaysia adopted his system.
Four people who know A__n say he understood the importance of powerful allies for doing business in Malaysia. He put several former senior government officials on his companies’ boards. He forged an alliance with an influential politician, A___d Z___d H___di, according to people who know the men.
In 2015, when Malaysia adopted B____net’s system, Z___d was h__e affairs minister, overseeing immigration. That year, he announced Malaysia would bring in as many as 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers. It was a win for Bangladesh.
There was a catch. All recruitment orders had to be routed to just 10 of Bangladesh’s more than 1,000 agencies, ending open competition. Three former Bangladeshi officials said Malaysia insisted on the unprecedented arrangement. If Bangladesh didn’t comply, according to the officials, Malaysia said it would recruit elsewhere.
Migrant workers make up about 20% of Malaysia’s workforce, the US State Department says. Photographer: Samsul Said/Bloomberg
A__n and Z___d played key roles in this, according to six people who say they discussed the matter with A__n or were briefed on it. A__n chose the agencies and Z___d handled the politics, the people said. Z___d also instructed a Ministry official to issue B____net a letter of acceptance for its software, the official later told a parliamentary committee. The ministry issued the letter “before finalizing the terms and methods of procurement,” the committee found in 2025. A representative for Z___d didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Four people, who attended meetings or socialized with them in this period, described their interactions as friendly. In the July interview, A__n said Malaysia selected the agencies, and denied being friends with Z___d. A representative for Z___d declined to comment. In 2018, Z___d denied any involvement with B____net.
Limiting the agencies “had all the hallmarks of a syndication or cartel” to control recruitment costs, according to a 2018 lawsuit against the 10 firms and Bangladesh’s government by agencies that lost business. It didn’t name A__n or B____net as defendants but said A__n helped devise the plan. The firms weren’t picked on merit, the suit alleged. Six had never sent workers to Malaysia. The defendants and A__n denied the allegations. The suit was later withdrawn with no findings of wrongdoing.
These 10 agencies began unlawfully charging workers an additional fee, known as a syndicate fee, of around US$1,350, according to allegations in letters from Bangladeshi agents to their government, witness statements collected by Bangladeshi criminal investigators, and interviews with 17 agents in both countries. If the fee wasn’t paid, in cash, they wouldn’t return workers’ passports, according to allegations in the interviews and documents.
R___l A__n, the owner of recruitment agency C_____sis I____national, collected the syndicate fees, which amounted to more than US$1 billion (RM4.05 BILLION) over a 10-year period, according to allegations in a letter signed by 453 Bangladeshi agents that haven’t been verified by Bloomberg. If agencies in the group of 10, which was later increased to 100, didn’t pass on the syndicate fees to him, B____net’s system wouldn’t give them any new orders, according to interviews with the 17 agents.
This fee and other charges pushed the per-person recruitment cost to as high as US$6,600, (RM26,700) according to a 2024 memo prepared by the M___ni Research Centre, a Kuala Lumpur think tank. That’s more than twice what Bangladeshis paid before B____net became involved, according to the ILO, and more than double what Indonesians and Nepalis pay, according to agents who recruit there.
How Everyone Gets A Cut
Note: Based on allegations by 17 recruitment agents who have sent Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia or have knowledge of the process. Some of these allegations, such as the existence of syndicate fees, are disputed. Not all payments or stages of the process are illegal or in breach of the agreed protocol.
A__n said he’s never heard of syndicate fees. “I never met a single worker, so how do I collect money?” he said. “People talk this way because they think they’re losing money because of us. We are the threat of the industry.”
Three of the 10 agencies — denied collecting unlawful fees. The others didn’t respond to requests for comment. C_____sis was selected on merit and “never involved in any kind of unauthorized financial transaction,” the agency said, adding R___l “is a proponent of ethical recruitment.”
It’s unclear how many of the more than 800,000 Bangladeshis who came to Malaysia since 2016 paid syndicate fees, or where the money went. There’s no evidence it went to A__n. But Bangladesh’s police arrested dozens of the selected recruitment agents in 2024 in an investigation into alleged money laundering, extortion and trafficking of migrant workers. They asked Malaysia to stop using B____net’s software and called for R___l, who had left Bangladesh, and A__n to be extradited. The pair played key roles in a system that “fraudulently extorted money” from workers, Bangladesh’s branch of Interpol wrote to Malaysia, causing them “physical and mental torture.”
A__n denied the allegations. Minister of Home Affairs Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said in October that Malaysia’s police are in touch with their Bangladeshi counterparts. A___n hasn’t been extradited.
The morning after Shofiqul called home he gasped for air, waking his roommates. They knelt around his mattress as he went into convulsions. Then he died.
A Bloomberg reporter visited the building a week later. His roommates, who had also been promised jobs, and other Bangladeshi workers living nearby gathered to recount what happened. They said the landlord called an ambulance that took away his body. Neither the workers nor Shofiqul’s widow knew the cause of death.
The men said Shofiqul had begun to despair about his situation. His visa had expired, so if he sought help from authorities he would have been deported. His options were to wait for his employer, P________a Bhd., to provide the job, or disappear into Malaysia’s underworld of undocumented migrants.
Shofiqul “clearly is a victim of human trafficking,” said Latheefa Koya, a former chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, or MACC. She described him as an extreme outcome of the institutional corruption in Malaysia’s recruitment of Bangladeshi workers. She and five other current or former senior members of Malaysia’s government outlined how it permeates every step of the process: Government staff seek bribes from companies, which pass the costs on to agents in both countries, who pass them on to the workers. Because bringing in workers has become so lucrative, some companies deliberately over-recruit or promise fake jobs, they said, to illegally subcontract workers. The recruitment fees sustain the system. Everyone gets a cut, and the workers pay.
“This involves so many layers of people,” said Mahathir Mohamad, a former Malaysian prime minister who sought to reform the system. “Even ministers.”
P________a was approved to recruit 1,500 Bangladeshis. But according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg, it had recorded no revenue in the previous two years. Its owner, M_____n M__d F_______h, didn’t respond to requests for comment. Bangladesh’s government has said at least 8,000 workers didn’t get promised jobs in recent years. A Malaysian official said the true figure is probably in the tens of thousands.
Recruitment costs affect workers even when the jobs exist. Malaysia prohibits them from switching companies, meaning they must stay in one job until they’re debt-free, creating a dangerous dependency. Since 2019, US authorities have sanctioned eight Malaysian companies for alleged forced labor, taking advantage of workers through debt bondage, threats or intimidation, while Malaysian suppliers of several global corporations have faced similar scrutiny. Documents and interviews with labor activists show the cases have a common feature: Bangladeshi workers with recruitment debts.
Malaysia’s cabinet discussed these matters after 2022, according to people with knowledge of the deliberations. He campaigned on eliminating graft and even called for an investigation into B____net. The MACC had started a probe. Cabinet officials knew A__n played a central role in Bangladeshi worker recruitment via his control over the agencies, which escalated costs, the people say.
Eliminating B____net as a government contractor would be a first step, some officials reasoned. In late 2023, the cabinet decided to cut ties after B____net’s contract expired the following year, according to people familiar with the matter. It looked like A__n’s run was ending.
A__n tapped his network. He visited the MACC to speak with its chief, Azam Baki, according to two people briefed on the matter. The commission’s investigation was dropped, the people said, asking not to be identified for fear of reprisals. The MACC declined to comment. A__n said he went there to give statements but denied ever meeting Azam.
A__n also asked top officials to lobby to extend B____net’s term, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Z___d, who is now deputy ...r, privately pushed the p___e minister, the people said. At the end of a cabinet meeting in early 2024, ... made a surprise announcement: B____net would get an extension.
A__n said it was “based on merit” and he wasn’t involved.
On the morning of the interview last July, A__n arrived at Kuala Lumpur’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel flanked by two attorneys and B____net’s chief executive officer.
He wore a linen blazer and a shirt with cuffs monogrammed “D.S.A.” for Dato’ Sri A__n — an honorary title. On one wrist was a smartwatch, on the other what appeared to be a Cecil Purnell, a timepiece that costs more than US$100,000.
A__n ... talked for three hours, saying they wanted people to know the truth.
The two men said B____net’s system sped up worker processing, weeded out application fraud and eliminated in-person meetings that invite bribery. They said it ensured worker health checks can’t be gamed and companies can’t bring in uninsured workers. It eliminated illicit charges and made recruitment cheaper, safer and cleaner, they said.
A__n likened his system to a highway. He can’t control how people drive and isn’t responsible if officials approve bogus applications or agents overcharge workers, he said. Authorities have scrutinized B____net and found no malpractice, he said.
Unscrupulous agents in Bangladesh are the problem, A__n said. He stopped them from exploiting workers, he said, and now they’re slandering him.
“People keep on talking about B____net, keep on talking about me: ‘They take over this, take over that, monopoly, political connector, political influence’ — a lot of things,” he said. He said he devoted his career, spanning 38 years and seven Malaysian governments, to helping migrant workers. “We are the ones who get the blame because we provide a solution.”
A__n was also critical of what happened to Shofiqul, whom he said he didn’t know. He questioned Shofiqul’s employer for bringing him in without a job, and Malaysia’s government for allowing that to happen.
Meanwhile, after Shofiqul’s death, his still-jobless roommates quietly disappeared, probably into Malaysia’s black economy.
“They have to pay back what they borrowed,” said Santiago, the former member of parliament. His argument is the system itself is the villain, and within it, many people are at fault.
The migrant workers “are victims of a big network that’s managed by elites and government operatives,” he said. He predicted Malaysia will suffer the consequences once global companies take notice.
“The path from Bangladesh to Malaysia is one of the most exploitative labor routes in Asia,” said Andy Hall, a labor activist. “Bangladeshis work all over Malaysia’s economy. If you’re a global company buying from there, there’s no chance your supply chain is clean.”
Twelve days after that morning in early 2024, Shofiqul’s body was flown to Dhaka. Hosne Ara made the day-long journey from Mulgram to collect her husband’s remains. He was buried near his father’s home in the village.
Hosne Ara said the agency refunded about half of his recruitment fee, and a few Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia sent some money. But she has to repay the rest, and she doesn’t know how.
Later, she and the children made a short journey over narrow roads that cut across the plains of the Padma River, back to the village where she was born. They moved in with her parents and brothers. She rarely goes back to Mulgram, saying she doesn’t feel safe there after dark.
The dragon fruit trees that Shofiqul planted are still growing in the village, she said. Nobody tends to them anymore.
Editors: Tom Redmond, Jeff Sutherland
With assistance from: Joy Lee, Kok Leong Chan, Arun Devnath, Nazmul Ahasan, Ambereen Chowdhury, Zainab Fattah and David Gillen.
MY COMMENTS
Tuan-Tuan orang Melayu dengar baik-baik ok. Dulu masa zaman British mereka membawa masuk 'pekerja asing' tanpa minta izin sesiapa pun. British telah membawa masuk ramai orang Cina dan India untuk mengusahakan industri ladang dan perlombongan yang masih baru pada zaman itu. Tetapi sejarah orang Cina dan India di Malaysia adalah lebih lama lagi - mendahului British, Belanda atau Portugis. Orang India dan Cina telah menetap di negara ini sejak beratus tahun. Tokong Cina dan kuil HIndu yang tertua di Malaysia usia keduanya masing-masing 350 tahun dan 250 tahun. Puteri Hang Li Po telah menjadi isteri (atau gundek) Sri Sultan Melaka sekitar tahun 1459 - 567 tahun dulu.
Tapi sekarang pula kita melihat negara kita dibanjiri orang asing yang boleh masuk dengan membayar duit. Ikut rencana Bloomberg di atas jika orang Bangla sanggup bayar hampir RM18,000 satu kepala mereka boleh masuk Malaysia. Bloomberg kata lebih 800,000 orang Bangladesh sudah masuk Malaysia. Saya rasa angka ini kurang tepat. Bilangan Bangla yang pernah disebut dulu melebihi dua juta orang. Tapi itu bukan official statistics.
'collected the syndicate fees, which amounted to more than US$1 billion (RM4.05 BILLION) over a 10-year period, according to allegations in a letter signed by 453 Bangladeshi agents that haven’t been verified'
Yuran yang dibayar pekerja Bangla saja melebihi RM4.05 BILLION untuk tempoh 10 tahun!!
Jadi duit punya pasal - negara boleh dijual kepada orang asing. Dan hampir kesemua duit ini adalah duit rasuah, duit pelicin, duit bayar komisyen yang langsung tidak perlu atau berguna pun.
Dan ikut rencana Bloomberg di atas seorang pekerja Bangla Shofiqul Islam ditipu bulat-bulat. Walaupun dia bayar RM18,000 untuk masuk bekerja di Malaysia tetapi tidak ada jawatan kosong pun yang menunggu dia di sini. Dia ditipu oleh 'ecosystem' rasuah pekerja asing.
Dulu cerita di Wang Kelian lebih disaster. Mereka telah menjumpai kubur dipenuhi mayat beramai-ramai yang disyaki mayat pekerja asing dan pendatang tanpa izin. Apakah sebab mereka mati dan ditanam secara beramai dalam satu kubur itu masih misteri.
Tuan-tuan sekarang sudah tidak ada British lagi. Yang in charge sekarang adalah geng-geng yang ada sekarang lah. Dari tangga yang paling rendah sampai kedudukan mereka yang paling di atas - ecosystem mereka adalah korup.
Siapa yang menjual negara sekarang? Soalan yang bodoh ok. Kita semua tahu dan faham siapa yang menjual negara. Di sini ada soalan yang lebih bodoh - sampai bila mereka boleh buat ikut suka hati mereka macam ini?
Bukankah kita dilaungkan sebagai 'negara hukum'? Hukum tahi ayam ke?
So when will all this stop? Bila pula akan berhenti atau dihentikan amalan menjual negara, menjual maruah, menjual bangsa dan menjual segala-gala nya?
Apa kata tuan-tuan? See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil?
