Nepal has taken the drastic move of barring its workers from coming to Malaysia with immediate effect over unhappiness with “restrictive” immigration requirements its workers must face.
Responding to the ban, Human Resources Minister M Kulasegaran has called on the government of Nepal to go easy on the barring of its citizens from working in Malaysia over visa grouses.
”We will try to find other mechanisms for their workers to come here. Otherwise, there will be a severe shortage of workers in our country, leading to setbacks in progress,” he said.
Kulasegaran added that many industries here are dependent on foreign workers and such a move would directly harm sectors such as plantation and security services that are heavily reliant on Nepali manpower to operate.
”Nepalese workers are well-known for their bravery and honesty, and many Malaysian employers prefer to hire them.
”We hope that in the meantime, Nepal will go easy on the matter and reconsider (their decision),” he told the press on Saturday (July 28).
It was reported in The Star today that the “restrictive” Malaysian immigration requirements for Nepalese workers include going through a private company “monopoly” for security and medical check-ups as part of the visa requirement.
Kulasegaran said that he was aware of the problems in hiring foreign workers involving a third-party company and the high charges imposed.
”All these (problems) were approved during the previous (Barisan Nasional) government and we are looking into how to overcome this.
”In fact, the Cabinet had discussed this matter earlier and I will prepare a paper in the coming week to call for immediate action,” he said.
Kulasegaran revealed that the Government has been engaging Nepalese government officials in the last two weeks to resolve the matter.
”I will contact the (Nepalese) High Commissioner on Monday,” he said, adding that the Government would restore the system of hiring foreign workers back to the G2G (government-to-government) approach without any middlemen.
It is learnt that there are currently more than 500,000 Nepalese workers in Malaysia, with over 150,000 of them employed as security guards.
Reportedly, as many as 5,000 vacancies in the security services industry were unable to be filled.
Nepal Embassy labour attaché Sanmaya Ramtel said the Nepali government’s moratorium is indefinite.
“The Nepali government does not understand why the Malaysian government is allowing a private company to monopolise the recruitment process.
“The government also feels that the company’s presence is a virtual monopoly as other companies are not allowed to carry out the screening and this contributes to higher cost for the workers,” she was quoted as saying by local daily The Star.
Ramtel did not name the agent but Bestinet Sdn Bhd, a company linked to former deputy home minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, is reported to have been granted the sole right to carry out bio-medical screening for migrant workers entering Malaysia.
Noting that this has been a “long-standing dispute” between the governments of Malaysia and Nepal, she said a change of government in Nepal this February saw “the new government taking a firm stand on the matter”.
She said Malaysia is one of the top two countries for Nepali who want to work abroad, and that Nepal’s Gurkhas are the only migrant workers that Malaysia seeks as security guards.
After Indonesia, Nepal is the supplier of the most foreign workers to Malaysia.