10 November 2014, The Rakyat Post
THERE is a taste, a smell to freedom. You and I enjoy it. Many don’t. An estimated 20-27 million people are believed to live in slavery around the world.
And many of these cases are happening in Malaysia.
Indian national Lokesh Sapaliga’s horrifying experience in a Sarawak factory is the latest case of modern day slavery here.
Sapaliga worked in sub-human conditions, was forced to eat rotting food and paid a little over RM20 for a 14-20 hour workday.
An Indian agent in Mumbai collaborated with a sub-agent in Malaysia, who sent him to work in an oil palm factory after promising a lucrative job at an oil rig.
He managed to escape and secretly took pictures of the working and living conditions.
This story is shocking but it’s nothing new. We have heard and seen similar or worse stories over years now.