Office of Labour Affairs in Malaysia was reported that Thai massage therapist (Lampang province) was arrested at LCCT Immigration while she was temporarily going back to Thailand by using a forged Employment Pass in the passport.
After the investigation, the employer, the owner of Rainforest Health Enterprise, informed that the company had appointed the employment agency, Najwa Outsourcing Sdn.Bhd, to process the work permit and it should be legitimate because he used to directly contact with the Putrajaya immigration officer. However, he, therefore, had also notified the police at Subang Jaya Station.
The arrested worker was sentenced to 18 days of imprisonment at Kajang Female Prison and to pay a fine of MYR 17,000 (approximately 170,000 Baht); consisted of MYR 10,000 for a stay exceeding the permitted date and MYR 7,000 for a forged work permit which the employer was responsible for a payment. Accordingly, on 17 November, 2010 the worker had returned to Thailand; however, there are three more workers who will face with the similar problem which the company had informed that the negotiation to Malaysia Immigration was on process in order to pay a fine due to staying over the permitted date and those workers will be dispatched to Thailand.
Remark It is more likely that the problem is caused by Malaysia’s regulation on the suspension of employment quota for massage therapist, which caused the company to pay the agency for dealing with the work permits and misunderstand that the documents are legitimate. However, the documents were later found be illegal causing the workers to be confined and were costly fined. As a result, the Office of Labour Affairs in Malaysia would like to inform and remind Thai massage therapists who want to work in Malaysia that the Malaysian government still suspends the quota for this work category. By entering, they will violate the law and may cause a similar problem as mentioned.
