Malaysia keen to hire Bangladeshi workers, visiting minister says

After lifting the ban on recruiting foreign workers, Malaysia has expressed its eagerness to take workers from Bangladesh for construction, plantation and manufacturing sectors, and the process would start ‘very soon’.

Visiting Malaysian Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot Anak Jaem said this during a meeting with Bangladesh’s Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Nurul Islam in Dhaka on Tuesday, the ministry said in a statement.

The Malaysian minister said at the meeting that his country would take workers from Bangladesh 'very soon' initially in three sectors –construction, plantation and manufacturing, according to the ministry statement.

The two sides agreed on a government-fixed rate for sending workers to Malaysia, the statement added. However, it did not mention how much a worker will have to spend to go to Malaysia with a job.

They also discussed the possibility of sending workers through the recruiting agencies that had been listed earlier by the ministry. 

Earlier in February, just twelve hours after signing of an agreement between Riot and Nurul on Feb 18, Malaysia had announced that it would not take any foreign worker, which left the deal in a limbo.

In September, Malaysia lifted the ban partially by announcing that it would allow importing manpower in four sectors - construction, plantation, manufacturing and furniture-making industries, opening the door for Bangladeshi workers.

Malaysia is one of Bangladesh's most important labour markets. 

The Expatriates’ Welfare ministry statement said that Minister Nurul vowed to uproot the 'syndicate of agents' that dupes workers seeking jobs in Malaysia.

"We will not give the opportunity to only a few recruiting agencies, but ensure sending of workers through the experienced and renowned ones those who had sent workers earlier," it quoted the minister as saying in the meeting.