Prime Minister Balendra Shah held a telephone conversation with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Tuesday.
During the conversation, Shah emphasized the need to make foreign employment between Nepal and Malaysia dignified, transparent, and free from exploitation.
PM Shah told his Malaysian counterpart that he and his government were opposed to the syndicate and intermediary system in Malaysia’s foreign employment sector, the prime minister’s secretariat said.
According to a press note issued by the secretariat, PM Shah also stressed the need for joint initiatives to find a permanent solution to what he described as impractical and unjust practices.
“We do not like syndicates or the intermediary system, and this is not acceptable under any circumstances. It has put workers in a difficult situation,” the secretariat quoted PM Shah as saying to his Malaysian counterpart. “Therefore, I urge you to have your labor minister hold direct talks with our labor minister and take the necessary steps to eliminate this problem permanently.”
Malaysian Prime Minister Ibrahim responded positively to PM Shah’s views.
Ibrahim also made clear that he opposed syndicates and intermediary practices. He pledged to immediately instruct Malaysia’s labor minister to coordinate with Nepal’s labor minister and work toward resolving the issue.
"I am also completely against such wrong and exploitative practices. I will immediately instruct our labor minister to discuss this matter with their Nepali counterpart and find a concrete solution," Ibrahim said.
Recently, there has been controversy over employment in Malaysia as the Southeast Asian nation has unilaterally initiated a process to recruit workers exclusively through a limited number of manpower companies without consulting Nepal.
Malaysia initially listed 25 manpower agencies and subsequently added another 250 agencies under the supervision of the original 25. It has said that workers will be recruited only through those 275 agencies. However, Malaysia has not coordinated with the Nepal government on the matter.
Recruitment agencies and business representatives have strongly opposed the arrangement, alleging that Malaysia has imposed a syndicate system.
Malaysia, however, has not provided any information on the matter.
