Staff Reporter :
The Malaysian government has finally opened the much-expected labour market for the Bangladeshi workers from this month.
At least five lakh Bangladeshi workers will get the opportunity to go to Malaysia in five years and the migration cost of each worker will be maximum Tk1.50 lakh.
The migrant workers will go to Malaysia through the 1,520 legal recruiting agencies and there will be no syndication in this process.
Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed on Thursday said this to the journalists after holding a bilateral meeting with Malaysian Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M Saravanan at the Probashi Kallyan Bhaban in the capital.
After hailing from the meeting, the minister said, “We have reached an agreement that we will be able to send our workers to Malaysia from this month. We don’t need any other meeting with Malaysia to send our workers.”
“Bangladeshi workers will go to Malaysia following the memorandum of understanding (MoU). The workers will go as per the government data. Before it, advertisement will be issued in new media and TV,” the minister added.
Asked about the process of sending manpower, he said, “We have a total of 1,520 legal agencies. We have sent their list to Malaysian government. As per the MoU, Malaysia has the right to select agencies from the list because they will receive our manpower. There is nothing about syndication in the MoU. We did not have this issue in our meeting as well.”
Asked if there is any opportunity for the agencies which will not be selected by Malaysian government to send manpower, the minister said, “People take licenses for doing business. They will find out their own businesses.”
Secretary of the Expatriate Ministry Munirus Salahin said, “Malaysia will take five lakh Bangladeshi workers in five years in their economic sectors. Their demand is more. Malaysian minister has said that they will take workers at low cost. They will also take security personnel and domestic workers. These sectors have not opened for Bangladesh yet.”
“The Malaysian government will fix the medical centers for the listed workers. We want to guarantee the welfare of the workers. Their salary will be 1,500 Malaysian Ringgit. Workers security will be ensured through the Malaysian law,” he added.
About the Malaysian government’s intervention on the recruiting agencies’ inclusion, the Secretary said, “If any recruiting agency violates the rules and regulations, legal action will be taken against them. We will fix expenditure limit. If anyone takes additional money, prompt action will be taken.”
He said that all these initiatives have been taken to protect the interest of the workers.
As per the MoU, the workers themselves have to bear a quarantine cost after reaching Malaysia. In addition, the expected workers have to spend for medical test, passport and some other cost.
However, Malaysia will bear the cost of the air tickets for round trips as per the MoU.
Both Bangladesh and Malaysian government signed the MoU on June 19 last year to restart the manpower sending to Malaysia after the closure of the labour market three years ago.
In order the remove the hindrance of sending manpower, Malaysian Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M Saravanan reached Dhaka on June 1 to attend the bilateral meeting on the issue on Thursday.
The labour market was stopped due to the alleged syndicate of 25 selected agencies which will only have the authority to send manpower.
But a section of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) had sharply reacted against the condition imposed by the Malaysian government.
They demanded that all the eligible recruiting agents should be allowed to send workers to Malaysia.
But after the bilateral meeting on Thursday it was decided that all the valid recruiting agencies will have the opportunity to send manpower to Malaysia.
Malaysia is a big labour market for Bangladesh as these workers earn millions of dollars to add the reserve of the country.
Under the current global situation, the government of Bangladesh is largely depending on the remittances to avoid any sort of untoward situation in the national economy.
