Kathmandu, October 8
The Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies is on the verge of a split following a dispute over the listing of 275 manpower agencies in Malaysia’s Foreign Worker Centralized Management System (FWCMS).
The association has suspended the agencies included in the list. The Department of Foreign Employment is also investigating the agencies and has halted their pre-approval to send workers abroad.
The association initially suspended 25 manpower agencies after they were included in the list. It later suspended an additional 250 agencies and sought clarifications from them.
The agencies included in the list are preparing to form a separate association. One of the manpower entrepreneurs said they had no option but to unite to protect their rights and interests after the existing association took action against them and expelled them.
“We have already moved ahead with the initiative to form an association. They expelled all 25 of us, and now that we have been expelled, we have to fight for our rights and interests,” the entrepreneur said. “Even now, more than 80 per cent of the manpower agencies sending workers are with us.”
The entrepreneur accused the association of suspending member agencies, vandalising and padlocking their offices instead of holding discussions and dialogue after their names were included on the list.
“We did not submit our names from Nepal, but our names appeared on the list from Malaysia. Malaysia included our names in the system based on the C-license,” he said. “But the association treated us like criminals. Since there was no place for us in the association, we concluded that we had to form another one.”
Malaysia has listed 25 Principal Recruitment Agencies (PRAs) and 250 Associate Recruitment Agencies (ARAs) from Nepal through which Nepali workers will be allowed to travel to Malaysia under the FWCMS. A deadline has been set for sending workers through these agencies from November 5.
