|01.06.08|
Archive for June, 2008
Nepali American dream in Malaysia
June 1, 2008
“You are going to work in an American restaurant”, that’s what the foreign employment agent in Kathmandu told Suraj Man Sunuwar. He paid a hefty sum of Nepali Rupees 95,000 to make his way for employment in Malaysia. With the dream of working in an American restaurant and making it big with an American salary, 23 year old young Suraj from Jhapa in eastern Nepal reached Kuala Lumpur (KL) about eight months ago.
It was only after landing in KL he found out that the American restaurant that he was going to work for was McDonald’s. Suraj’s dream of working for an American restaurant in Malaysia and making it big with American dollars however has remained just a dream. He laments, “I signed a contract with the foreign employment agent in Kathmandu for a monthly salary of Malaysian 1700 Ringit (about 35,000 Nepali rupees). But I have been paid only 650 Ringit a month.” He said the employment agent in Kathmandu and the one in Malaysia keep rest of the money. The employment agency in Malaysia has provided a meagre place to live and though McDonald’s bergers are given to him as meals, he spends about 200 Ringit for food every month. He said he can not eat bergers all the time.
Nepal’s tie with Malaysia goes back several decades. The erstwhile British empire stationed the Gurkhas in Malaysia after the second world war. The Gurkhas’ bravery and role in resolving the Malaysian insurgency in the late 1960’s is still talked about. Many Gurkhas’ children were born in Malaysia and many of the Gurkhas and their children speak fluent Malay. Despite the historical ties Nepal have with Malaysia the immigrant Nepali workers in Malaysia are subject to racial discrimination. Suraj said, “We work for 12 hours and get paid 650 Ringit a month. Whereas the local Malays, Chinese and India Malaysians work for just 8 hours and are paid double of what we are paid”. Suraj is working in Malaysia legally as he showed me his identity card issued by his company. The discrimination and exploitation may be intense and rampant with those immigrant workers who do not have proper papers to work in Malaysia.
Despite the discontents amongst the Nepali immigrant workers in Malaysia, they are well respected for their honesty and peaceful nature. A second generation Indian Malaysian taxi driver said, “The Nepali immigrant workers are the most honest and disciplined workers in Malaysia”. He however being an Indian Malaysian had his own share of grievances being an Indian Malaysian regarding racial discriminations in Malaysia.
Kotaraya is the place where most of the Nepali immigrant workers live in KL. It is a stretch of road where strolling one can find sign boards here and there written in Nepali language. There are quite a number of Nepali cuisine restaurants along the stretch of the road. As well as some Nepal export and import trading concerns. You literally run into a Nepali, every step or two when you take a stroll in Kotaraya. One cay buy five different papers and magazines in Nepali language published in Kuala Lumpur in Kotaraya. Some Nepalis seemed to have struck gold in Malaysia.
For somebody like Suraj also, who has completed only his intermediate studies in Nepal despite the problems, to find a job in Malaysia and to earn and save and send home some money is quite an achievement. It would have been hard for Suraj to find employment in Nepal. Even if he had found a job in Nepal the earning would not have been good enough to save and fend for his family.
The heralding of new political republic system in Nepal was celebrated by the Nepali immigrant workers in Kualalumpur. The Nepali labour union GEFONT has a chapter in KL also. They try to organise the immigrant Nepali workers in KL and to safeguard their interests and rights. The incumbent Nepali Ambassador to Malaysia was politically appointed by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). Suraj has not approached the Nepalese embassy regarding his grievances. He says not yet. He would not also wish to take the course in future given the risk of being deported as the employment agents are more powerful then the poor immigrant workers are. A Nepali immigrant worker who took part in a protest rally in KL was deported to Nepal last year.
I was in KL to attend an Asian media summit on broadcasting. In his key note speech in the summit the deputy prime minister of Malaysia said, “Malaysian government does accommodate freedom of speech and independent responsible press. But there is no as such absolute freedom”. What regulations apply to media in Malaysia I assume applies to immigrant workers also.
According to Suraj there are about 150 Nepali immigrant workers working for number of McDonald’s outlets in Kuala Lumpur. All of them are working for McDonald’s with their own share of Nepali American dream of making it big in life. Suraj hopes that the new republic government in new Nepal would look into their plight also. While his dream of making it big for him and his family in Nepal working for an American restaurant in Malaysian lives on. He does not wish other fellow young Nepalese to leave home to come and work in Malaysia.
|01.06.2008|
