Htet Nadi/Pearl (NSS) - Sep 1

The Myanmar Overseas Employment Agencies Association (MOEAA) will submit a rejection to the relevant ministries regarding the inclusion of only 10 agencies in Malaysia's Foreign Workers Centralized Management System (FWCMS), in agreement with other agencies sending workers legally to Malaysia.

Of the approximately 600 foreign employment service agencies in the country, approximately 200 agencies are sending workers to Malaysia, and the Ministry of Labor has allowed each agency to send approximately 20 workers per month.

According to data released on August 24, only about 10 out of roughly 600 agencies from Myanmar are included.

“If such things happened without informing each other or our MOEAA, we strongly protest and condemn it. There are 570 members in our association. We cannot accept the inclusion of only 10 companies. We need to find a solution amicably,” said U Myo Thant, Chairman of MOEAA.

The MOEAA has urged the 10 agencies involved in Malaysia's FWCMS system to come and negotiate on how to participate, but they have not responded yet, so the MOEAA has stated that their membership will be suspended if they fail to negotiate.

Similarly, if the Malaysian government approves the FWCMS system, other agencies sending workers to Malaysia could become brokers even though they have agency licenses, which is not in line with the SOP set by the Ministry of Labor, U Myo Thant said.

“All of them are license holders and managing directors. If they monopolize the business, many of them would become brokers. Under the SOP, we are only allowed to send 20 workers to Malaysia. But now there are huge job demands, especially from restaurants and the F&B sector. How can just those 10 agencies handle and fulfill all of these demands? Would that mean the SOP has to be changed?” he said. 

Therefore, the issue of listing only 10 agencies in Malaysia's FWCMS system should be discussed between the two governments, and evidence will be submitted to the relevant ministries and embassies.

“We will submit it to the minis­try today. We raised this issue last time as well, and we made it clear that we did not accept it. We will submit our position again now, but I cannot say at this stage whether it will be accepted or not. As I just mentioned, we will send it to the Malaysian Embassy. We will also send it to the Malaysian side, the Myanmar Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Once everything is finalized, we will also send it to the ILO, IOM, and other relevant organizations,” he said. 

A similar situation is also occurring in Nepal, where 25 Nepalese recruitment companies registered with Malaysia's FWCMS system have reportedly decided to withdraw from the system due to criticism and pressure. –