Staff Reporter :
The Cabinet on Monday approved the draft of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Malaysia with a target of sending 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers there in three years under a G2G Plus process.
The approval came at the regular weekly Cabinet meeting held at Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam briefing reporters after the meeting said that the Bangladeshi workers would be allowed to work in service, manufacturing and construction sectors in Malaysia apart from the lone plantation field.
He said that Bangladesh would now be enlisted as a source country while some guidelines have been prepared transparently for both the sides.
At the very beginning of the process, the Malaysian government after verifying the demand and capacity of the employer in Malaysia would ensure job security and other related facilities for the workers while there would be no interference of the middlemen, Alam said.
The Cabinet Secretary said that the workers would be sent from the registered list of the database of the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET), and the lion shares of the migration cost would be borne by the employer.
He said that the migration cost would vary from Tk 34,000 to Tk 37,000 subject to the fluctuation of the exchange rate.
Alam said that the appointment letters of the workers would be attested by the Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia and would also be kept there. So, there would be no scope for appointment letter replacement or duplication.
He said that the salaries of the workers would be directly sent to the bank accounts of the workers while a Joint Working Group (JWG) would be in place under the G2G Plus process to conduct joint monitoring to protect workers’ rights and their interests.
He said that if there was any allegation, the JWG would initially try to settle it, if not, the matter would go up to the higher level.
The Cabinet Secretary said once the new MoU is signed and made effective, the previous MoU of 2012 and the protocol in 2014 would be annulled.
Besides, the new G2G Plus process also has provision of sending female workers to Malaysia.
Alam said the employer would bear the expenses of workers security deposit, biomedical fee, levy, visa fee, health insurance and compensation insurance.
He said that the Malaysian government would send relevant information and data to the BMET Bangladesh after scrutinizing the demand of employers in Malaysia. On the contrary, the Bangladesh government would send the list of eligible recruiting agencies under the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) through online system.
“Later, the recruiting agencies would be selected through a transparent and accountable manner,” he said.
He said that the recruiting agencies would play a facilitating role like recruiting workers from the database of BMET, completion of agreement, biomedical of the workers, security verifying, visa processing, training and immigration activities.
Alam said through online system, the employer would know the necessary information regarding employees’ selection and then send the appointment letters to Bangladesh High Commission for attestation.
On completion of the necessary formalities, he said, the Malaysian High Commission in Dhaka would make arrangements for visa stumping into the passports of Bangladeshi workers.
Answering to a question, the cabinet secretary said that since the previous G2G process did not get enough response, the government went for the G2G Plus process involving the recruiting agencies.
“We hope that this process would be much more transparent and accountable,” he said.
He said the proposed MoU is likely to be signed within one month.
