Malaysia to hire Bangladeshi workers in 3 sectors

Malaysian Human Resources Minister Richard Riot today informed the government that they will hire workers from Bangladesh only in three sectors--construction, plantation and manufacturing.

The visiting Malaysian minister revealed the information after holding a bilateral meeting with Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Nurul Islam at his office in Dhaka today.

Officials at the expatriates' welfare ministry said both the governments are now in the final phase to start the recruitment of the workers soon.

Nurul Islam is scheduled to brief reporters about the developments of the recruitment tomorrow, they added.

"We have an agreement with Malaysia for the workers' recruitment. Now, we have discussed to expedite the process based on that agreement," an additional secretary of the ministry told The Daily Star.

The Malaysian government suspended the recruitment of foreign workers from all countries including Bangladesh on February 19 just a day after the two governments signed a memorandum of understanding in Dhaka.

But the ministry officials said the agreement with Malaysia was not suspended rather they were negotiating with the labour receiving country on some key issues including recruitment process, migration costs and salaries.

After huge criticisms for an alleged syndicate by some selective Bangladeshi recruiting agents to dominate the Malaysian job market, the expatriates' welfare ministry said it will not give any scope of forming any syndicate.

"We have discussed with the visiting Malaysian minister and informed him that they must include our 745 recruiting agents for the job otherwise the process will be hampered due to some selective agents," said Minister Nurul Islam.

However, Ruhul Amin, secretary general of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira), told this correspondent that they are not aware of the Malaysian government's decision yet.

Malaysia has been a popular destination for Bangladeshi migrant workers over the last three decades but the recruitment process has always been tainted by malpractices that result in labour abuses.

Following massive irregularities during 2006 and 2008, Malaysia froze recruitment from Bangladesh in early 2009. In late 2012, the country began labour recruitment on a limited scale, but it did not work well allegedly for the influence of recruitment agents having vested interests in both the countries.

Currently, around three lakh Bangladeshis are working in different sectors in Malaysia legally while a good number of the Bangladeshis are also working without legal documents.