PETALING JAYA, MALAYSIA: Forty-three Indian nationals have been languishing in an Immigration detention camp for nearly two months.

Malaysian Trades Union Congress officials say their plight is due to the manpower outsourcing agency which brought them into the country.

To add insult to injury, the foreigners were made to pay more than RM10,000, supposedly as repatriation fees, to the agency while being detained at the camp in Pekan Nenas, Johor.

The MTUC is baffled as to why no action has been taken against the agency from Pasir Gudang, Johor, for duping the foreigners into working illegally for five months last year. They were also not paid wages.

The 43 and eight others -- aged between 23 and 35 years -- had been hired as general workers for factories in Johor on a three-year contract in July 2005. But they were duped.

On Jan 17, the workers took a bus from Johor to Kuala Lumpur to seek help from the Indian High Commission but were rounded up by police on the way there.

While 43 were sent to the camp, the eight who were released sought the help of MTUC and lodged a report at the Dang Wangi police station the same day.

MTUC officials visited the camp last month and reported the matter to the Home and Human Resources ministries.

"This is a clear-cut case of exploitation. The agency should not only be charged for harbouring foreign workers illegally but for violating human rights, 'extorting' money from them and for human trafficking.

"Cases like this have yet again marred Malaysia's image and we urge the authorities to act promptly, especially after repeated assurances from our government that their interests will not be overlooked," said MTUC secretary-general G. Rajasekaran at a press conference at Rumah MIEL yesterday.

On Jan 3, Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam and Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi signed a bilateral agreement in New Delhi to protect 150,000 Indian nationals who work in Malaysia, mostly in the service, construction and agriculture sectors.

Rajasekaran said MTUC was contemplating reporting the matter to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.