Malaysian government’s decision to increase workers’ minimum wage would benefit thousands of Nepalis working in Malaysia. The revised pay entitles a worker to receive basic monthly salary of Malaysian Ringgit (RM) 1,050 effective from January 2019.

Nepali workers heading to work in Malaysia or already employed there would receive a minimum wage of Rs 28,974 per month from next year. The minimum wage per hour of work is hiked to RM 5.05.

Nepal Embassy in Malaysia Second Secretary Maheshwor Mani Tripathi said, “The increment may look nominal, but it is a positive move towards welfare of foreign labour force in the country.”

Currently, the minimum wage for workers is RM1,000 per month in Peninsular Malaysia and RM920 per month in East Malaysia that includes three states Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.

News portal Free Malaysia Today, quoting Malaysian Prime Minister’s office statement, published a report on Thursday saying, the increase (wage) was made after looking into the economic situation of the country, and avoided a drastic raise that “could pose problems to various industries”.

The majority of Nepalis work in Peninsular Malaysia where the wage hike is RM 50 compared to RM 130 in East Malaysia.

Nepalis are the second highest foreign work force in Malaysia. Malaysian Immigration Department data shows the country currently has 385,000 registered Nepali workers as on July 2018. Malaysia has more than 1.7 million legal foreign workers.

In Fiscal Year 2017-18, 104,209 Nepali workers received new work permits from Malaysia’s Department of Foreign Employment. The aggregate work permits including workers re-entering Malaysia was 137,311.

Nepali workers’ departure to Malaysia remains on hold for over three months. The immigration freeze followed Nepal’s government crackdown on recruiting agencies that charged exorbitant visa and other documentation fees from Malaysia-bound workers.  

Nepal and Malaysia have discussed the probability of a bilateral pact to resume departures of Nepalis to Malaysia and protect their rights.