UCPN-Maoist leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha today said Nepali workers kept in deport centres and detention camps in Malaysia faced inhuman treatment and were being forced to eat beef against their will. Former deputy prime minister and foreign minister took up the cause of scores of Nepalis at deport centres with Malaysian and Nepali authorities after he got first-hand knowledge about their ill-treatment during a visit to the South East Asian country from April 5 to 8.Deport centres are detention camps where undocumented workers are kept before being deported to Nepal.

Many workers become undocumented due to expiry or loss of their passports, expiry of their visas, overstaying or changing their workplaces and are designated “illegal” in Malaysia.During his visit, Shrestha met Malaysia’s Deputy Home Minister Haji Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, Deputy Speaker Ronald Kiandee and Inspector General of Police Tan Khalid Abu Bakar and took up the cause of Nepali workers, including their mistreatment at prisons and detention camps.“I visited a deport camp in Bukit Jalil, 20 km south of Kuala Lumpur.

 As many as 57 Nepalis were kept there. Up to seven people were tied by a single chain-handcuff. They were barred to talk to their kin. Even when they fell sick they were not treated,” Shrestha said during a press meet at his Harisiddhi residence today.“Many people told me that beef items were given to them as food. They have no choice but to eat beef despite being Hindus,” he added.

Shrestha also met the commandant of Bukit Jalil camp, Amirul bin Mohd Khairy, and urged him to immediately stop inhuman treatment of Nepalis and to take action against those involved in ill-treatment of Nepalis.The Embassy of Nepal in Kuala Lumpur today expressed serious concern about the reports of ill-treatment of Nepalis and Nepal’s Ambassador to Malaysia Niranjan Man Singh Basnyat would take up the issue with senior officials of the Malaysian foreign ministry tomorrow, according to Jhabindra Aryal, who heads South East Asia Division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

After returning from Malaysia, Shrestha submitted a report to Prime Minister Sushil Koirala suggesting steps that should be taken by the Nepali and Malaysian authorities to address thousands of Nepali labourers’ problems in Malaysia. He also raised the issue of mistreatment of Nepalis in Malaysian jails and detention camps.He also held talks with Minister for Foreign Affairs Mahendra Bahadur Pandey and State Minister for Labour and Employment Tek Bahadur Gurung on the issue. Shrestha, who heads International Department of the UCPN-Maoist, suggested to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Malaysia to strictly implement the earlier decision of not taking more than Rs 80,000 as charges to go and work in Malaysia for the time being, and to make it zero-cost practice ultimately.

According to Shrestha, PM Koirala assured him to in an MoU with Malaysia to address the pressing problems of Nepalis working in Malaysia. Yesterday Shrestha called Charge d’Affaires of Malaysian Embassy in Kathmandu, Fadli Adilah, at his residence and conveyed the displeasure of his party over the treatment of Nepalis in Malaysian detention centres.

Published on: 17 April 2015 | The Himalayan Times