The Malaysian Insight

NEPALI workers will, from now on, be recruited via a government-to-government arrangement, said Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran.

The elimination of middlemen follows complaints by Nepal on the hurdles faced by its nationals when trying to obtain approval to work in Malaysia.

These include restrictive Immigration requirements, and having to go through a private company for security and medical check-ups to obtain a work visa.

“We are doing away with the middlemen, and will use the G2G approach in our direct recruitment exercise,” Kulasegaran told reporters at the Parliament lobby today.

The announcement follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two countries to allow Nepali workers, including maids, to be hired in Malaysia. It came after Nepal imposed a freeze on its nationals working here.

There were reports that Nepali officials had colluded with a Malaysian company to develop a biometric system for foreign worker recruitment, for use by the Immigration Department, that scammed poor Nepalis.

There are an estimated 500,000 Nepali workers in Malaysia, most of them security guards. – October 30, 2018.