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Myanmar to stop recruiting new workers for Malaysia

The Myanmar Times has reported that the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population has stopped employment agencies from recruiting new workers for Malaysia - that is until they complete sending all previous workers they had hired to Kuala Lumpur.

But the ministry said that those who have been given permission by the committee of education, health and human resource (between 23 June and 21 July) will still be allowed to travel to Malaysia.

In the report, Khin Nway Oo, deputy director general from the Ministry of Labour, said: “(Employment) agencies told us there are about 8000 workers who already got visa. So, we want them to send these workers first. We have no limitation on quantity of workers they sent. But, we have now received about 3000 new applications.”

On that note, an official of Myanmar Overseas Employment Agencies Federations (MOEAF) expressed concern about the labour ministry’s order. Kyaw Htin Kyaw, general secretary at MOEAF, said: “It is impossible for agencies to send all workers permitted by them because some workers have decided not to go abroad while others decided to find work in other countries.”

He also said the instructions of the ministry was not grounded on the existing conditions and was not in accord with the process of agencies sending workers to Malaysia.

Additionally, Kyaw Htin Kyaw said the MOEAF will reply and give suggestions to the ministry on how to solve the issue after it collected data from the agencies.

Myanmar has previously lifted its ban on sending workers to Malaysia in June in 2017, after a six-month suspension over political and diplomatic issues facing the two countries.

Photo / 123RF

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