Editor's Note: On July 1, 2019, Albert Tei was granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) by the Semenyih Sessions Court.
A Jakarta-based migrant rights group has raised questions over the role of its embassy in Kuala Lumpur to address the issue of alleged forced labour exploitation involving its citizens in Malaysia.
This follows the reported arrest of Maxim Birdnest factory owner Albert Tei last week, after it was exposed that the workers were subjected to harsh working conditions and regulations described as modern day slavery.
Migrant Care country representative Alex Ong told Malaysiakini that a complaint was lodged with the embassy in October 2015, on behalf of a worker who ended up at Maxim’s factory in Klang, although she was initially promised a job at an electronics factory and later made to sign a contract with a green technology company...