Ram was sent to Malaysia by an agent from his village in Dhanusa, and is currently in Kathmandu en route to Dubai. When asked if he used the same agent for Dubai as he did for Malaysia, he replied: “Despite arranging a good job for me in Malaysia, I did not trust him because his […]
Some hills in the Genting Highland look like the most remote part of Malaysia. Cut off from electricity and good transportation facilities, these desolate hills are home to Nepali migrants, mainly undocumented workers, who work as farmhands to eke out a living. Forty-one-year-old Top Chalami is one such worker. A permanent resident of Daga-Tumdada in Baglung district, […]
In the past four months alone, Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police rescued 81 women from India and other countries. They were victims of trafficking. However, police could neither identify the agents involved nor make any arrests. The reason – none of the victims filed cases against their traffickers. The CIB receives information on Nepali women trafficking victims who are stranded in various Indian cities through various contacts […]
Thousands of Nepalis in Malaysia prefer to be undocumented than be exploited and mistreated by their official employers. In the shadows Panic spreads on the sidewalks of the Kotaraya area of the Malaysian capital as immigration police sweep down during one of their raids on undocumented migrant workers. There is a palpable fear in the […]
Roshan Bhatta looked hopeless during an encounter at the Nepalese embassy in Malaysia which is situated along Jalang Ampang road. Bhatta, an employee at a Rawang based company that produces paper bags, became undocumented after he continued to work in Malaysia without extending his visa after it expired two years ago. Bhatta, a resident of Basundhara-Kathmandu, wanted to return home to meet his sick mother. The process was proving much costlier than […]
When the sky is clear, Rajan Thapa, 37, stares towards Kula Lumpur from Genting Highlands, which is about 30 kilometers away from the Malaysian capital. For him, the mega towers of Kuala Lumpur are dwarfed by his own towering struggles. Rapid economic growth and neon-lights of the proud and prosperous city fail to illuminate his life. Born in […]
On June 18, my father rang me from our home in Gitanagar of Chitwan district. “What should we do? Are you there? Get the information on what we need to do, and that too as soon as possible!” He uttered everything in a single breath. My father has a husky voice but never speaks in a rush. As soon […]
When Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates led the imposition of a political and economic blockade on Qatar last month, there were immediate, far-reaching consequences: Flights were canceled and rerouted, Qatari citizens were expelled from other Arab states of the Persian Gulf, shipping routes were closed and airspace was suddenly off-limits to Qatar’s pilots. […]
In early 2004, Sushila Karki Pyakurel was on her way to Israel to work as a caretaker when she met a government official in Bangkok, en route to South Korea, for a sports programme. As soon as the man realised that she was headed for the Middle East all by herself, he asked her to […]
Hundreds of Nepali migrant workers never return home, not even in coffins. They simply disappear. There are plenty of stories about the high mortality rate of Nepali workers abroad, or migrants being cheated by recruiters. Less well known is the fact that many Nepalis simply disappear while working abroad. The Gulf countries and Malaysia have […]