Ramchandra Giri

THE Malaysian government has decided to create security jobs for 10,000 Nepalis who have obtained legal status as part of its amnesty programme for undocumented migrant workers.

The government of Malaysia corresponded with the Kuala Lumpur-based Nepali Embassy on Thursday agreeing to employ 10,000 legalised Nepali migrants as security guards. “This is positive and encouraging news for the Nepali migrants here,” Ambassador to Malaysia Rishiraj Adhikari said, adding that the decision would be applied only in the case of legalised migrants. As part of employing legalised Nepali migrants in security jobs, the Malaysian government had interviewed 47 companies willing to hire security guards last week. The number of jobs, however, was not disclosed. The Nepali mission had also held a series of discussions with different Malaysiabased firms to secure their approval to employ legalised Nepalis as security guards. It is learnt that there are around 600 companies in Malaysia that hire security guards.

The Malaysian government allows a company to hire up to 70 security guards. Nepali migrants who have obtained legal migrant status have to undergo a seven-day physical training and pass a health exam and other tests set by the employing company before they become eligible for employment, a representative at the Security Services of Malaysia said. “Legalised migrants who have signed up for a different field of work can also apply for the job.” Only recently, the Malaysian government had opened 21 job sectors, including 10 sub-sectors, for legalised Nepali migrants. Job opportunities in places that were earlier off limits for Nepalis, including casinos, textile factories, mining companies, hotels and automobile workshops, have been opened.

Malaysia stopped the intake of Nepalis in security jobs since 2009, while the overall demand for Nepali workers in other sectors slumped after the amnesty programme was introduced in August. Under the amnesty programme, around 25,000 undocumented Nepalis signed up for legal migrant status. Santosh Karki who has been running a recruitment agency in Malaysia for the past 12 years said the decision to provide job opportunities to legalised Nepali migrants has raised hopes that the Malaysia government could demand fresh workers from Nepal. “This is great news for us Nepalis. My agency is preparing to provide security jobs to around 1,500 Nepalis,” he said.

Published on: 9 January 2012 | The Kathmandu Post