KL may resume recruitment of Bangladeshi workers

Malaysia has planned to recruit workers from Bangladesh as its export-oriented economy gathers pace, but Dhaka won't press Kuala Lumpur hard to speed up the recruitment process, a minister said Saturday. Labour and manpower minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said Malaysian officials visited Bangladesh last month and expressed their intention to recruit Bangladeshi workers in a large-scale very soon. But he said Bangladesh, however, would not launch special efforts and maneuvers so as to press the Malaysian government to lift of the ban on its construction and farm labourers. "Malaysian officials have expressed their desire to employ Bangladeshi workers in a bigger way. Now we are in a close contact with them," the minister told the FE. "I hope they will start recruiting our workers as soon as possible. But we don't want to be too aggressive. We don't want them to look down upon us. If they want our workers, they should come forward," he said. Malaysia has been one of the top destinations of the Bangladeshi workers ever since the South East Asian country opened its door for overseas labours following shortages in its export-oriented factories and palm plantations. But a recruitment glut coupled with the worst global recession in decades fueled a backlash against overseas workers couple of years back. In March 2009, Kuala Lumpur slapped a total ban on Bangladeshi workers. Still, the recruiters said in the first four months of the year Malaysia has employed 323 professionals from Bangladesh as the existing government ban does not affect recruitment of high-skilled workers. During the same period last year, KL recruited only 129 professionals, according to figures released by the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) last week. Former president of Bangladesh International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) Golam Mostofa said the latest employment data augurs well for the country. "With its economy gathering momentum, KL has started recruiting a lot of workers from other countries. I think the government should step up its diplomatic efforts to press KL to lift ban on our workers," he said. He alleged that there has been no "satisfactory moves" by the government in the last two years to boost manpower export to Malaysia. The minister, however, rubbished his allegations. According to BMET, about 1,000 Bangladeshi workers went to Malaysia in 2010, 12,402 workers in Malaysia 2009, 131,762 in 2008 and 273,201 in 2007. According to BAIRA, about half a million Bangladeshi workers are currently working in Malaysia, a Muslim majority nation and a leading Asian economy. Of them, 300,000 workers are staying there illegally.