Myanmar job recruitment agencies will be allowed to send workers to Malaysia again after a temporary halt in traffic due to violence between gangs of Myanmar citizens in Kuala Lumpur in late May.
Some 70 recruitment agencies have more than 3,000 workers on their books ready to send to Malaysia, said Min Hlaing, the chairman of the Federation of Overseas Employment Agencies.
“It is good news that the authorities will allow Myanmar workers to work in Malaysia again,” he said. “Otherwise, recruitment agencies will go out of business and workers will suffer.”
Speaking to Mizzima on July 29, Myo Aung, the Director General of the Department of Labour, operating under the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, said that one of the main reasons for readmitting workers through recruitment agencies is that, otherwise, underground agencies will recruit workers from Myanmar illegally.
Myo Aung urged recruitment agencies to protect Myanmar workers, and said they should only send them to places that can guarantee workers’ safety.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has issued regulations to recruitment agencies to collect all available information on work sites where they intend to send workers.
In late May, at least six Myanmar citizens died and 10 were injured in violent attacks in Malaysia. There are more than 400,000 Myanmar citizens in Malaysia; about 300,000 are legal workers; about 40,000 are illegal workers and about 90,000 are in various processes of refugee status.
