Kathmandu, Feb 3: Malaysia has proposed on Friday to renew the labor contract by sending Nepali workers to the domestic sector as well. The issue of sending domestic workers was not mentioned in the labor agreement signed between Nepal and Malaysia on October 28, 2018.
In a bilateral meeting held at Soalti Hotel in Kathmandu under the leadership of Minister of Labor, Employment and Social Security Dol Prasad Aryal, Malaysian Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail proposed to send domestic workers. Nepal is ready to put this proposal on the agenda of the joint technical meeting of Nepal and Malaysia. Malaysia is ready to hold this meeting within three months.
“We are ready to finalize the proposal put forward by Malaysia to send domestic workers in the meeting of the joint technical committee,” Kabiraj Upreti, assistant spokesperson of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, who participated in the meeting, said.
In the meeting, Malaysia has officially informed Nepal about the introduction of the ‘Foreign Worker Employment Relaxation Plan’. “We will immediately take 500,000 foreign workers. In this, we have given high priority to Nepali workers,” said Upreti, quoting the statement of the Malaysian Home Minister.
In the meeting, out of 500,000 foreign workers, the number to be taken from Nepalis was not clearly specified.
It was reported that the Malaysian side has introduced a new program to bring undocumented workers (with illegal status) back to their legal status after leaving the company or even after their visas have expired. “Compared to the citizens of other countries, Nepalese citizens in Malaysia are living in a very low undocumented status. There are not many cases against them”, the Malaysian side said.
In the meeting, Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security Dol Prasad Aryal said that Malaysia should help to effectively implement the labor agreement between Nepal and Malaysia. “We are determined that the labor agreement should be effective so that workers can go at zero cost. We are hopeful that Malaysia will also give its best support,” Minister Aryal said.
Nepal has requested to include all Nepali migrant workers in Malaysia’s Social Security Program (SSP). The situation of Nepali security guards was also discussed in the meeting. It was emphasized that the Ministry of Labor should attract the security guards by providing reasonable salary and service facilities as the police, army and armed police will soon retire from Nepal.
“We have trained security personnel. If they have proper service facilities, they will be attracted to Malaysia’s employment,” Minister Aryal emphasized.
