Nepali migrant workers in Malaysia have been facing a number of problems even though the country is considered to be a major labour destination. Of late, workers’ salaries have become the main issue with employers not paying wages as per the rate stated in the contract.

Many workers have not been able to return home even after the expiry of the contract period. Other problems are fake documentation, manhandling by employers, arbitrary deduction of salary, misbehaviour at the workplace and lack of health care.  

According to the Nepal Embassy in Malaysia, the major problem is salary as workers have not been getting their pay as per the contract signed in Nepal. “A majority of the workers coming to us have complained that they are not being paid as per the contract,” said Lekh Nath Bhattarai, the Nepali ambassador to Malaysia. “This has become the biggest problem.”

Normally, the problem starts from Nepal as workers do not pay serious attention to the things to be done before leaving the country. Bhattarai said that workers faced problems for failure to obtain proper information about the company, job position, salary and perks. “And, when such workers land here, the problem gets complicated,” he added.

The Nepal Embassy here has been solving such issues in coordination with the Labour Department of Malaysia. Even though the embassy is the big hope for Nepali workers facing problems, they have also complained that embassy officials have not been receiving their phone calls. “I called the embassy over 100 times, but nobody responded,” said a Nepali worker in Johar. He added that he had not received his salaries for the last five months, and the embassy had assured him that they would solve the problem within two weeks.

The embassy said that it had not been able to respond to the numerous calls of workers for lack of personnel. “We are giving our best to provide effective public service,” said Ambassador Bhattarai. He added that the embassy was in need of extra staff for effective service delivery.

In the first nine months of the current fiscal year, the number of workers arriving for foreign employment in Malaysia has also increased. The frequency of people coming to the embassy to get demand letters attested to bring workers from Nepal has also gone up. The embassy said that it attested demand letters for 115,000 workers in the last nine months. “After Malaysia fixed a new pay scale, demand for Nepali workers has also increased,” said Bhattarai.

Meanwhile, the government is preparing to sign a labour agreement with Malaysia. The pact was proposed six years ago, but nothing was done as a number of provisions needed to be reviewed. “The planned pact was delayed as we had to incorporate issues of the changed pay scale, levy and insurance,” said Bhattarai. He added that they would push to get the agreement signed after finishing the preparations soon.

Published on: 2 May 2013 | The Kathmandu Post