Mired in controversy | The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: A local private company which has come under scrutiny for offering “welfare and protection services” to Nepalese workers in Malaysia for US$45 (RM210) has come out to defend itself, claiming it had established an agreement with Nepal’s authorities.

The agreement which was signed by an official from the Foreign Employment Board of Nepal and the managing director of FWWMC Sdn Bhd was supposed to come into effect on Jan 1, 2024.

The agreement stipulates that US$15 (RM70) will be collected annually from Malaysian employers hiring Nepalese workers for a period of three years.

Industry players in both countries have sounded the alarm on the agreement involving the private company, with some even questioning the need for a private company to provide welfare and protection services when there are relevant government agencies and migrant rights groups to do that.

FWWMC Sdn Bhd’s managing director who only wanted to be known as Seelan said the Malaysian government was not involved in the matter. However, he said FWWMC will be willing to meet the Malaysian government on the matter if required, although it is “not necessary” at the moment.

“No, this (the agreement) is completely with Nepal. The Nepal government has the authority to do this (establish an agreement). They might have wanted to come up with this mechanism to take care of their workers here,” he told The Star.

Seelan claimed that the agreement was established with the Nepal Labour, Employment and Social Security ministry in December 2023.

He claimed that the implementation of the agreement is temporarily on hold as some information might not have reached the players in the groups.

“It is temporarily on hold. We need to address all the stakeholders which are the (industry) associations on the implementation process,” he said.

“We are trying to settle this matter,” he added.

The letter bearing the signature of the Foreign Employment Board executive director of Nepal to FWWMC stated that the Nepal Mission in Malaysia is to provide full cooperation and all necessary support for the said services to be implemented as per the agreement.

The letter also added that the Nepal mission in Malaysia is requested to disseminate the information to the government of Malaysia and local employers on this new policy development by the government of Nepal.

However, a spokesperson of the Nepal embassy in Malaysia said they did not receive any “official information on the matter”.

Asked why was the embassy not aware of the arrangement despite the agreement and letters between FWWMC and the foreign employment board, Seelan said the matter had only been addressed with “selected” people and it probably did not reach the ground.

“As I said, certain things were not openly acknowledged, for instance, the industry was not properly informed on this mechanism. They made a fuss. They only looked at the US$45 fee,” he claimed.

“We have only been addressing very selective people on this matter, so it did not reach the ground,” he added.

On how the fee will be collected, he said a portal would be developed for it.

Seelan claimed that once the attestation for the workers has been done and the Nepal Labour attache approves the headcount of the workers to be hired, the Malaysian employers will be required to make the payment to FWWMC.

Pressed on what the repercussions are if a Malaysian employer refuses to pay the fee, he claimed that “proper employers” may not have a problem with paying around RM60 per employee per year as it is a small amount.

“I believe over time, it will work smoothly,” he added.

In the event there is an issue, he said the company will meet the employers here to address it.

According to the agreement sighted by The Star, the company is responsible for providing services to Nepali workers detained by Malaysian authorities or who had fled their employers.

It also requires Nepali workers in Malaysia to be registered under its digital platform, called the Digital Welfare Monitoring System (DWMS), that will be developed by the firm.

The Malaysian firm was also required to develop a geo-tracking mobile app to track down the whereabouts of Nepali workers who abscond.