KUALA LUMPUR: The government is currently in talks with the Nepali government to set up a streamlined foreign worker hiring and supply system.
This as the government has suspended the operations of information technology company Bestinet Sdn Bhd that was previously alleged to have milked over RM185 million from Nepali workers seeking employment in Malaysia over the past five years.
Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran told a media conference today that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to resolve issues of discrepancies would be signed soon.
"We are going to have an MoU with them to solve the issue. The MoU has been approved by the Nepalese in principle," Kulasegaran said after a special committee meeting on foreign workers' management chaired by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today.
Kulasegaran said the MoU would be brought to the Cabinet for approval.
"As Nepal is also interested (in supplying workers to Malaysia), unfortunately, there has been an exploitation (of the service and workers) in between, so they have to suspend it (supply of Nepali workers).
"Hence, the cabinet must approve the MoU," Kulasegaran said.
Dr Mahathir meanwhile said it was an issue of interest to the Nepali government and Malaysia would respect their stand.
"We need to have a government-to-government agreement (on this matter)," the prime minister said. --Reporting by Syed Umar Ariff, Ahmad Suhael Adnan and Teh Athira Yusof.