Malaysian police have arrested 44 Nepalese workers after some 500 migrant workers rioted, set fire to an electronics factory and attacked officers, a senior security official said today.
Mohamad Idris Samsuri, local police chief in southern Johor state said the workers initially went on strike early yesterday to express their dissatification over working conditions but their action subsequently turned violent.
"The management and the police held talks to resolve the misunderstanding but it failed. The workers then turned violent and aggressive in the late evening. They burned part of the two-story factory producing hard-drives," he said.
"We had to use water cannon to disperse them but some retaliated by throwing stones and we were forced to fire teargas," he added.
Mohamad Idris said about 125 police personnels including members of the anti-riot unit were deployed at the factory to chase away the rioters. The factory employed about 1,600 Nepalese workers.
During the incident, the workers also stoned the office section of the factory and burned a car, he said.
Mohamad said operations of the factory have been suspended pending an investigation into the cause of the rioting.
Malaysia, Southeast Asia's third largest economy, is one of Asia's largest importers of foreign labour, mostly from neighbouring Indonesia, Bangladesh and other regional countries.
But foreign workers often are abused with long and poor working conditions and often do not enjoy labour laws protection.
