PETALING JAYA: More than 140 Nepali workers committed suicide over the last three years, and the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) says many may have taken their own lives after losing their jobs and getting stranded in the country.
Suhakam said Malaysia recorded a high number of 1,158 cases of deaths involving Nepali workers for the past three years, with suicide being a major cause of death.
Other causes of death, for the period between 2018 and July this year, included accidents at work, pneumonia, Covid-19, and other diseases.
Asked about the number of suicide cases among Nepali migrant workers, Suhakam’s commissioner Jerald Joseph attributed it to job losses that happened during the Covid-19 lockdown, although he noted that the commission does not have enough information on the matter.
“We have migrant workers who lost their jobs during the lockdowns. They wanted to go back to Nepal but were not allowed to do so. The stress may have led them to committing suicide,” said Jerald.
Many Nepalis come to Malaysia to work as security guards and they are the only foreign nationals allowed to work in that sector.
Suhakam said that it was working closely with the Nepali embassy to discuss the human rights issue concerning workers from the country, and urged relevant agencies to act on this issue.
“The police need to investigate in detail the main cause of the high number of suicide cases among Nepalese citizens.
“The Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) must conduct detailed investigations on the main causes of accidents at work involving Nepali citizens, besides taking stern action against employers who are found to be abandoning safety issues at work,” Suhakam urged.
In February, the Nepal embassy shared with FMT about their concerns over the high number of Nepali migrant workers committing suicide with 46 cases recorded by the embassy in 2020 alone. The suicide cases in 2018 and 2019 were 49 and 45 respectively.
The 2021 numbers were not revealed.
If you or your loved ones need help, Befrienders Kuala Lumpur can be reached around the clock at 03-76272929. Contact details of other Befrienders centres can be found here.