Lawless nightmare in Somaliland
PETALING JAYA: The lure of a high-paying job took telecommunications
consultant Hor Chee Fei to Somalia, one of the world’s most
dangerous places.
But three months on, he had to run for his life,
empty-handed and glad just to get out.
He was forced to flee the lawless land and was
chased right up to the runway of the airport by his employer’s henchmen.
Hor and five other Malaysians managed to avoid
detection by blending in with a crowd of Chinese tourists.
Hor, 49, had been asked to help set up a mobile
telephone network in the self-declared Republic of Somaliland, a breakaway region in
the northwest of Somalia.
“It was a big contract and the money was good,”
said Hor, who has experience working in several African countries.
The consultant said he was engaged by the telco’s
owner on a one-year contract.
He added that the owner, who is very rich,
arranged for the company’s CEO to take him to inspect the facilities in
Hargeisa, Somaliland’s capital city, to prove
that it was a legitimate business.
Convinced, Hor recruited five others and they flew
there in December and immediately got to work.
“They have excellent machinery but the local
workers were incompetent,” Hor said during an interview.
He said his team managed to get things running
although progress was very slow.
However, when a new CEO took over in January,
their pay was withheld as the company claimed they had not performed, despite
working over 12 hours a day and taking up tasks that were not part of their job
scope.
“We sensed something was not right and knew we had
to leave as we were being bullied there,” Hor said.
He said they felt threatened because it was a
lawless place and they were in no position to demand their dues.
Besides, their employers also implied that they
could make it difficult for them if they did not continue their work.
The Malaysians hatched an escape plan with the
help of some local contacts when everyone was busy celebrating during the
network’s launch last Saturday.
“We did not feel safe until the aeroplane door was
locked,” said Hor, who flew to Dubai from Berbera, three hours
away by road.
“Men came looking for us at the airport departure
lounge and even on the runway,” said Hor, who arrived home together with the
other Malaysians on Tuesday morning.
He is currently consulting with his lawyers to get
the workers their six-figure salary, which was to be paid in US dollars.
He warned small companies to be careful when
dealing with powerful “businessmen” from that part of the world.
Johnson Lukose, 47, from Kuala Lumpur, described the trip as an
unnecessary risk, adding that he would never return there.
“I am bitter about the incident and at Hor for
putting us in that situation. But I’m also grateful to him for getting us out
of there,” said Lukose, who was hired as a power systems consultant.
Source: The Star Online
