Sikh workers’ hair ‘forcibly cut’

[nanosecond]

Sikh workers’ hair ‘forcibly cut’

KUALA LUMPUR: With promises of a well-paying job in Malaysia, Darshan Singh made a big sacrifice by leaving behind his wife and children at his village in Punjab, India.

He had sold off his motorbike and his wife’s jewellery and even took a loan in order to raise the RM8,000 required for “visa and travelling expenses” as claimed by his then future employer. He also had to buy his own plane ticket to come to Malaysia.

Upon his arrival here in April, his employer took away his passport and the RM760 (US$200) that he had been instructed to bring along.

To make matters worse, 29-year-old Darshan Singh, who is a practising Sikh, was told to remove his turban and cut his hair. When he refused, his hair was cut by force.

“After cutting my hair, they warned me that if I ever wore a turban again, they would not allow me to work there any more,” he said through an interpreter at the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) headquarters yesterday.

Together with 17 other Punjabis including a woman, Darshan Singh handed over a memorandum to Suhakam to help them in their situation. Their predicament had come to the attention of Tenaganita, which aided them in lodging the complaint.

They told Suhakam vice-chairman Tan Sri Simon Sipaun that their wages were not paid, their supervisor had assaulted some of them and all they were given to survive on were flour and daal for them to cook on their own.

A sombre-looking Darshan Singh said two others also had their hair cut against their will.

The 18, aged between 19 and 32, then asked that their wages, money and passports be retur

ned to them and for action to be taken against their employer who had sub-contracted them out to another company.

“We want to continue working here with other employers because our families are relying on us. We have sold everything we have and we must pay off the loans we took,” said Darshan Singh.

[moorakh mugadh]

vwihgurU jI kw Kwlsw!

vwihgurU jI kI &iqh!!

bloddy hell en BHAN*** nu sabak sikhnaa chaeda .

[Guest rsingh]

its bloody redicuolus. its well documented and said by sikhs of Panjab that if today somebody similar to shaheed Baba Jarnail Singh Khalsa came along all the rich would follow him.

Why? cause he was true and fought for there rights. every sikh in Panjab wants to move out of Panjab and go to other countries to earn money. they dont realise that the stories like these are true.

a sikh in Panjab can not find work even if hes educated/ a farmer cant sell his harvest outside of Panjab there are so may resrictions on people especially Sikhs, they cant even buy property out side Panjab. its restrictions of the Central Gov

[J@ZZ_$INGH]

thats dispicable!!. he can take his employer to court for race discrimination act etc.wjkk wjkf.

[Karen Kaur]

Wjkkwjkf!

:wub: this is stupid too many racist ppl

Wjkkwjkf!

[stopsingh]

its bloody redicuolus. its well documented and said by sikhs of Panjab that if today somebody similar to shaheed Baba Jarnail Singh Khalsa came along all the rich would follow him.

Why? cause he was true and fought for there rights. every sikh in Panjab wants to move out of Panjab and go to other countries to earn money. they dont realise that the stories like these are true.

a sikh in Panjab can not find work even if hes educated/ a farmer cant sell his harvest outside of Panjab there are so may resrictions on people especially Sikhs, they cant even buy property out side Panjab. its restrictions of the Central Gov

The restrictions are not limited to just Sikhs and are not imposed by the central government but by states. Even Punjabi hindus cannot legally buy land in some other Indian states (just the same as Punjabi Sikhs) !

[S1ngh]

n-e-way..

some people have habit of every taking topic to another world... so sticking with the topic which is "sikhs in Malaysia".. Im pretty much sure the employer must be one of the punjabi too.. There are thousands of sikhs in malaysia who will take care of this subject.. I am acually happy that this story came out as a news headline.. why? cauz other sikhs will guide those victims and will prevent this happening in future..

[stopsingh]

n-e-way..

some people have habit of every taking topic to another world... so sticking with the topic which is "sikhs in Malaysia".. Im pretty much sure the employer must be one of the punjabi too.. There are thousands of sikhs in malaysia who will take care of this subject.. I am acually happy that this story came out as a news headline.. why? cauz other sikhs will guide those victims and will prevent this happening in future..

oops I am going off topic now. :D )

Yes some people do have a habbit of going off topic and that why it is only right to correct any missunderstanding their posts may contain. :wub:

Sometimes it is necessary to dig deeper as veer rsing did with good intentions trying to get behind the cause of the problem as to why these people want to leave Punjab. This is not going off topic but trying to understand the reasons behind the problem, it is all part of debating. If veer ji had gone on to talk about the price of bananas at Ludhiana bus station that would be off topic.

[TarunSingh]

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!

can someone really force you to cut your hair?

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!