Around 500 Nepali migrant workers are languishing in various detention centers and jails in Malaysia while many workers remain in hiding fearing arrests. 

“It has been learnt that around 500 Nepali migrant workers are languishing in various detention centers or jails in Malaysia while many are staying illegally,” said Krishna Hari Pushkar, director general at the Department of Foreign Employment. 

Following the revelation, the government has started necessary preparations to rescue them at the earliest. The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has directed the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MoLE) to initiate the process to release Rs 2 million through the Foreign Employment Promotion Board (FEPB) to rescue the workers. 

“As soon as we get a letter from the MoLE, we will release Rs 2 million for rescuing the workers,” said Tika Bhandari, acting executive director at the FEPB.

Bhandari informed that the fund will be used to pay for their overstay charges, legal assistance fees and return tickets to Nepal, among other things. The fund will also be used to bring home the bodies of Nepali workers that remain unattended in Malaysian morgues. 

“We don’t know about the exact number of unattended bodies of Nepali workers in Malaysia but the government will initiate the process to bring them home at the earliest,” informed Sridhar Sapkota, spokesperson for the CIAA. 

A CIAA team headed by its chief commissioner, Lok Man Singh Karki, had recently visited Malaysia to learn about the status of Nepal migrant workers. 

At a meeting held at the CIAA on Sunday, Karki instructed the MoLE, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance to make necessary arrangements to upgrade the services at the Nepali embassy in Malaysia. 

Pushkar, who also attended the meeting, informed that the Nepali embassy in Malaysia as per the CIAA directive, will establish service points at different parts of Malaysia to help the Nepali workers. 

“At present, needy Nepalis from across Malaysia have to make arduous journey to Kuala Lumpur, where the Nepali embassy is located, for any assistance. So, the embassy will set up service points in various Malaysian cities,” he told Republica. 

Talking to Republica, Pushkar said that the government will set up an effective monitoring mechanism to keep tabs on the recruitment agencies and medical test centers to make the foreign employment sector free from fraudsters and to curb the death rate of workers in Malaysia. 

According to figures provided by the Department of Foreign Employment, there are around 500,000 Nepali migrant workers in Malaysia. Malaysia also sees the highest number of Nepali worker deaths.

Recently, the Malaysian authorities launched a crackdown on illegal migrant workers. Following the crackdown around 1,600 illegal Nepali workers were provided travel documents by the Nepali embassy for their safe return home.

Published on: 05 May 2014 | Republica