Kathmandu, Oct 28: Employment opportunities in Malaysia, a major destination for Nepali workers, have been suspended for the time being. The process of sending new workers has stalled as Nepal and Malaysia have failed to resolve a dispute over the selection of manpower agencies responsible for recruiting workers.
Malaysia’s Foreign Worker Centralized Management System (FWCMS) stopped registering new workers for biometric and medical screening from October 1, preventing the issuance of calling visas. Bestinet Sdn Bhd, the company operating the FWCMS, has made the reopening of medical registration conditional on the activation of 25 manpower agencies listed by the Malaysian government as principal recruitment agencies.
Malaysia selected 25 principal recruitment agencies and 250 subsidiary recruitment agencies in August, but Nepal has not approved them. The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has repeatedly raised serious objections to the selection process.
The Labour Ministry has insisted that the existing system should remain in place until the two countries reach an agreement to resolve uncertainty in the recruitment process. To settle the dispute and renew the memorandum of understanding (MoU), the ministry has proposed holding a joint working group meeting on November 18 and 19 or December 2 and 3.
The Malaysian side, meanwhile, appears unwilling to reverse its decision. Malaysian Human Resources Minister Ramanan Ramakrishnan has written to his Nepali counterpart, Ramji Yadav, reaffirming Malaysia’s position that the recruitment structure should comprise 25 principal agencies, each overseeing 10 subsidiary manpower agencies.
While diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute continue, Nepal’s Department of Foreign Employment has initiated legal proceedings against the operators of the 25 manpower companies. The department has also begun monitoring the companies, warning that their bank accounts and travel permissions could be frozen if they fail to contact the authorities within 35 days.
With recruitment of new Nepali workers in Gulf countries shrinking by more than 52 per cent amid rising tensions in the Middle East, Malaysia had been seen as a major alternative employment destination. As many as 132,000 Nepalis went to Malaysia for employment in the last fiscal year alone.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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