Kampung Serampang Indah (Gatco) is located in Jempol in Negeri Sembilan. Some 40km to its south lies Bahau and about 60km to its north is the border town of Triang in Pahang.

This is a palm oil plantation in a land scheme comprising more than 4,000 acres and settlers here are former NUPW (National Union of Plantation Workers) members and estate workers.

There are about 500 settlers here, out of which slightly more than 200 are Indian Malaysians.

It is to cater for these settlers that contractor S Maren provides labour force. At the beginning of last year, he had nine families - roughly 60 workers - working for him. Today, the number stands at six families.

One family, M Avadiar, his wife and seven children, 'escaped' last August from Maren and are now claiming they were treated like slaves.

They claimed that life was hell when working for Maren over the past eight years. They had not been allowed to go outside the plantation, their children were not allowed to go to school and one daughter was a victim of sex attacks.

Avadiar's wife Rosamah said life as a bonded labourer under Maren meant working at all hours, being a servant to the owner at all times and quietly receiving punishment for the simplest of mistakes.

After meeting the Avadiar family, malaysiakini spoke to Maren to get his side of the story. The contractor denied all the allegations.

Buying workers

Kampung Serampang Indah is part of a larger Felda scheme. It is located about 12 km away from the main road which links Bahau to Triang in Pahang.

Everybody there is familiar with Maren's residence, a sprawling single-storey house with a huge compound.

Although surprised by malaysiakini's visit, Maren agreed to respond to the allegations.

The 37-year-old contractor, with a penchant for gold chains, revealed all his books and documents on his employees.

"I have spent almost RM200,000 to get these workers to work here for me. I have settled their debts and brought them to work for me," he said

"And of course, since I had paid their debts, I also deduct some of their wages to regain my investment in them," he added.

Asked how these workers could find themselves with such colossal debts, Maren said he did not know the details of the workers' deal with their previous employers.

"That you have to ask them. Some had debts up to RM11,000. Even the Avadiar family had debts amounting to RM7,000.

"All I do is pay their debts and then get them to work for me. I deduct the wages to recover my payment," he added

However, he offered some clues as to why these workers borrowed money.

"They just don't want to work and without work there is no pay. But they want alcohol. So they borrow to pay for their drinking and eating habits," he claimed.

"I know a family who borrowed RM1,000 just to buy mutton to eat everyday. Can you believe this?" he added.

On the allegation that he physically assaults his workers, Maren admitted doing so because "these people are lazy".

As for the allegation that he does not allow his workers to leave the area, the contractor denied this.

"How can they say that? They went out for Deepavali. They went out on other occasions. But most of the time they will tell me they want to go out to visit their family but end up getting drunk in the plantation itself.

"When this happened, I have beaten them. In fact I have beaten an entire family for this," he said.

He said the Avadiar family was making accusations against him to portray themselves as victims and gain sympathy from the public.

"Look, they are my workers. I brought them to work here and I paid them for that. They were free to move about but that family (Avadiar) is a lazy family. They still owe me about RM3,000," he charged.

The unspoken words

Maren also invited all his employees - some six families - to his house so that malaysiakini could ask them about how they were treated.

In the presence of their boss, all of them agreed that he was a good employer. But their body language appeared to suggest otherwise.

"Ask them whatever you want. They can talk to you freely," Maren said.

The contractor said his business was to provide labourers for the settlers in the scheme.

"From that I get an amount and then give wages accordingly," he said, adding that he also deducts house rental and grocery provisions from the wages.

When pointed out that the prices at the sole provision shop in the village was steep, Maren said this was beyond his control.

He then immediately ordered his workers to call in the provision shop owner but the latter was not around.

"Look, these people need not be here. They can go outside to get their groceries. I will not deduct money from their salaries for that but they are happy with the arrangements here," he said.

When pointed out that the workers would need to walk for about 12km and then take a bus to reach the next nearest shop, Maren said if the workers really wanted to go, they were free to do so.

What sex attacks?

He also dismissed claims that he forced children to work in the oil palm plantations.

"Last year I paid the school bus fare for all these children to go to a school outside of here. But the parents themselves were eager for their kids to work with them. Ask them if you don't believe me," he said.

And when asked, the workers chorused: "Yes."

On the allegation of sexual assaults, Maren said he was not aware of this. He also dismissed the allegation by the Avadiar family that Maren's brother and one of his workers had made their daughter pregnant twice.

"Prove it and I will marry off my brother to that girl," challenged the father of four.

Maren was enraged as to why he was being singled out over this bonded labour issue.

"There are many contractors like me around this place. We all have bought workers to work for us. Why not ask them how and why they do it," he said.

At the end of the interview, Maren said he knew where the Avadiar's were hiding now but he was not interested in getting them back.

"I have lost so much money on them. Never mind. Let them go. Others too can leave if they want.

"If I had bought some goats and cows for the RM200,000 I had invested in these families, I would have been a happier man," he said.

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Next: How the Avadiars' escaped
Yesterday: Escape from slavery