JEDDAH, 16 April 2007 — Two Malaysians caught at the center of a company trade dispute have been stranded in the Kingdom since January and are making desperate efforts to return home. “We have been here for over three months and for no fault of ours are suffering the indignity of being overstayers,” Francis Ng Wai Kong, 32, told Arab News.

“We are mere employees of our company who arrived here on Jan. 3 to settle a dispute between our company and its local client. Why should we suffer if the two companies cannot settle their problem,” Victor Hoo Kim Swee, 54, said.

“We are now heading to a police station once more. We have been there already so many times, but nothing seems to happen,” Francis said.

Having failed so far and with their country’s mission refusing to intervene in a trade dispute, the two men say they are talking to a lawyer to get them out of the ordeal.

They have refused to divulge the names of the two companies involved. “We don’t want to say anything more at this stage for fear of our case being made more complicated,” Victor said.

Both of them wondered whether such situations could arise in a country that is a member of the World Trade Organization. “We also want to know whether we could seek the help of the local human rights organization if there is no solution in sight,” Victor added.

According to them, the local company sponsored their entry visas, which were valid for 15 days. The visas were once extended up to April 4. “When we wanted to return, our local client took away our passports for further visa extension, which he never did. Each time we spoke to him, he came up with some excuse or the other,” Francis said.

The Malaysians work for a company in Johor that manufactures engine parts. Victor has been employed for four years and Francis for 12 years. Their company has lodged reports with the Malaysian police.

The Saudi company claimed there was a dispute over payment and demanded more than SR250,000. “We were told that if we didn’t pay, we wouldn’t be able to leave the country,” Francis said. They were supposed to return to Kuala Lumpur on Jan. 7 but are stuck in Jeddah, living in a back room provided by their diplomatic mission. “In one of our meetings with the Saudi client, we were told that he would accompany us to Malaysia to personally sort out the matter with our company,” Francis said.

The Malaysian company had exported auto parts to its Saudi counterpart. Both Francis and Victor did not want to say what exactly was the dispute and why their company was being asked to pay the sum. Asked about the outcome of their repeated visits to the police, Francis said: “They are routine visits. They are not productive. Nothing seems to be moving.”

Francis said: “We are emotionally drained. I haven’t seen my newborn daughter and we missed celebrating the Chinese New Year with our families.” He said they were fortunate in that their family and friends contact them regularly to keep their spirits up. He added: “Let the two companies do whatever they want, why are we harassed?”