This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on September 28, 2026 - October 4, 2026

Even though Minister of Human Resources Datuk Seri R Ramanan recently issued a statement asserting that an orderly labour recruitment process with Nepal is being planned, the crux of the matter appears far from resolved.

Following a phone discussion with his Nepali counterpart last Thursday, Ramanan said in a Facebook post that Malaysia’s stance on a transparent labour recruitment system that protects workers, facilitates employers and closes off any room for exploitation and abuse is clear.

His statement, however, did not touch on the restricted access to the Foreign Worker Centralised Management System (FWCMS) platform that recruitment agents in Nepal are against.

The government took over the FWCMS, which was developed by Bestinet Sdn Bhd, in 2024 and it is now being handled by the human resources ministry.

Interestingly, reports from Nepal paint a different picture of the discussion between the two ministers.

According to a report, Nepali Minister of Youth, Labour and Employment Ramji Yadav had told his counterpart that the government wanted all the licensed recruitment agencies in Nepal to have equal access to the FWCMS platform.

After a lapse of more than 18 months, the government is reopening the doors to recruit unskilled workers, using the FWCMS platform.

However, unlike in the past, not all recruitment agencies in Bangladesh and Nepal have equal access to the FWCMS. In both countries, only 25 recruitment firms have been designated as “principal recruitment agents” and granted priority access to the system.

Each of the 25 firms are assigned “10 sub-agents” who are also allowed to recruit foreign workers to be sent to Malaysia but the processing is done by the principal agents.

Nepal’s recruitment agencies, which number more than 1,100, have pushed back against the restricted access to the FWCMS on the grounds that there is a lack of transparency in how the 25 firms were chosen as “principal agents”.

Clearly, the Malaysian side needs to justify the selection of the 25 labour recruitment firms in Nepal and Bangladesh so that the recruitment process is transparent and leaves no room for exploitation.

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