Malaysia is expected to regain its top hiring country status for Nepali workers from next year toppling Qatar that had topped Malaysia since March, when it started to tighten illegal migrant workers. Malaysia — that was the top hiring country since 2008-09 till this March — had also introduced biometrics identification system to regularise migrant workers.

 

The South-East Asian country is believed to hire at least 100,000 Nepali foreign job aspirants in 2012. “We expect huge increase in demand from Malaysia from January,“ said general secretary of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies Kumud Khanal. “Nepali workers are popular among the employers, so they will give preference to Nepalis.“ Malaysia has banned Bangladeshi workers following their illegal stay in the country while Indonesian workers are seasonal workers and Filipino workers are too expansive.

 

“Malaysia doesn't have option except increasing number of migrant workers from Nepal,“ he said, adding that new batch of worker will get nearly double the salary compared to the current scale. “Increase in salary and strong Malaysian Ringgit will be beneficial to Nepalis.“ Current exchange rate of 1 MYR equals to Rs 26.5, which is almost Rs 4 to Rs 5 more than two months ago. Likewise, Malaysian government is revising minimum salary to migrant workers from MYR 546 to atleast MYR 700.

 

However, trade unions are demanding hike to MYR 900.Malaysia offers daily three hours overtime to foreign workers legally. Migrant workers working overtime get double the salary. Nepali workers can earn MYR 1,000 (Rs 26,500) in a month from next year, he said, adding that the amount is 156 per cent more than the current minimum wage rate.

 

“We are expecting that the handsome salary will attract Gulf bound workers to Malaysia.“ Government data also indicates the possibility. According to the Department of Foreign Employment, Malaysia has sent a demand of 38,772 Nepali workers in last four months while demand from Qatar stands at 26,196. Malaysian demand has significantly jumped to 10,794 in Kartik (mid-October to mid-November), while Qatar had demanded 8,793 workers in the month.