The government has said that it is unaware about the new decision of the Malaysian government to suspend the recruitment of foreign workers. It further said that it will not stop sending aspirant migrant workers to Malaysia if they have already taken their work permits, nor will it make any changes in its foreign employment policies.

 

The Ministry of Labor and Employment (MoLE) said that it hasn't received any official information from the Malaysian government regarding the new decision.

 

The Southeast Asian country announced a halt to the recruitment of all foreign workers last week.

 

"We are unaware about the Malaysian government's decision to suspend the hiring of foreign workers," spokesperson at MoLE Govinda Mani Bhurtel said, adding, "Those who have already taken their final work permits shouldn't be stopped from going to Malaysia."

 

Bhurtel also said that the Malaysian government should tell the Nepal government about the halt to worker recruitment and the prospects of hiring Nepali manpower in future. Nepal's embassy in Malaysia has been asked to enquire about the Malaysian governemnt's decision, he further added.

 

Malaysia is host to more than 900,000 Nepali migrant workers. Around 1,500 to 1,700 youths leave Nepal for foreign employment on an average day, out of which 40 percent go to Malaysia.

 

Malaysia was the number one destination country for Nepali migrants until last year. Its position now is third. Lately, Malaysia has been criticized a lot as employers and companies there don't provide migrant workers the jobs mentioned in their contracts, there is no timely payment of wages and other forms of abuse are also rife.

 

Altogether 117,686 Nepali migrant workers went to Malaysia in the first six months of last fiscal year. This number dropped to 35,335 in the same period of the current fiscal year, according to figures maintained by the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE).

 

Meanwhile, the Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA) claims that the new decision of the Malaysian government is an outcome of failure by the Nepal government to deal properly with it.

 

President of NAFEA Bimal Dhakal said, "Malaysia has closed its doors to Nepali workers as the government here couldn't properly implement the free visa and free ticket rule."

 

Dhakal also remarked that Malaysia's decision is going to impact the entire recruitment industry badly as more than 50 percent of recruiting agencies are working for Malaysian companies.

 

Nepal received Rs 617.27 billion in remittances last year and out of this one-third was from Malaysia.

 

Published on: 23 February 2016 | Republica