KL to deport 55,000 Bangladeshis

Malaysia will send back up to 55,000 illegal Bangladeshis after they flouted its strict visa rules and found jobs there illegally, manpower recruiters said Sunday. The workers went to Malaysia with student and tourist visas but stayed on, seeking jobs, particularly in export-oriented factories and palm plantations, they said. "The Malaysian immigration officials informed us that they would soon deport the workers," secretary general of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) Ali Haider Chowdhury told the FE. "We pleaded with them that the workers be allowed to continue jobs as Malaysia needs labours for its booming manufacturing and farm sectors. But they bluntly rejected our plea," he said. "They said the workers have violated Malaysia tough visa regulations. And there is no way that they would keep them back because the workers have entered Kuala Lumpur (KL) with bad intention," he said. A BAIRA delegation last week met Malaysian home ministry officials in KL where the issue of illegal Bangladeshi workers was brought up and discussed. BAIRA senior vice president Reaz-ul-Islam said between 52,000 and 55,000 Bangladeshis are now working in Malaysia illegally. "They went there with tourist and student visas but didn't return home. Their visas also haven't been renewed," he said, after returning to Dhaka. "Malaysia wants to send them back. Police will deport them gradually," he added. Sources said some illegal recruiting agents sent the workers to Malaysia allegedly in collusion with local immigration officials. These hapless workers were charged Tk 220,000 each and most did not know that they were travelling to KL with tourist and student visas, said a source. An agent in the city's Badda area said he sends job-seekers directly to KL airport from Dhaka and most of the workers he sent found jobs on arrival in the fast-booming economy. "Some agents send job-seekers at first to Thailand on air and later to Malaysia through land route. They avail tourist and student visas and then do not return or renew their visas once they entered the country," he said. Recruiters alleged that a gang of human traffickers and travel agents are behind this illegal trade. "This booming trade in trafficking started in 2003. Scores of travel agents, based in city's Fakirerpool area, control the business," he said. Manpower recruiters, however, are hopeful that the illegal trafficking would decline steeply once Malaysia starts recruiting Bangladeshi workers legally. The recruitment of Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia was banned in October 2007, paving the way for illegal trafficking by some travel agents. BAIRA leaders said they had meeting with Malaysian home ministry's deputy secretary-general Datuk Raja Azhar who said Malaysia was willing to resume recruitment from Bangladesh. Nearly 110,000 Bangladeshi workers who went their legally have become 'irregular' due to a problem in software which keeps registration of them. The visas of these workers will be renewed within May 15, BAIRA president Abul Basher told the FE, "Malaysia will at first recruit 25-30 thousand workers under a pilot project aimed at cutting excess migration cost. Further decision on large-scale manpower recruitment will depend on the success of the project," he said. At first workers will be hired for agriculture and plantation sector. Later, KL will consider recruiting manpower for construction and manufacturing sectors, the BAIRA president said. Malaysian officials have hinted at hiring 0.4 million Bangladeshis, once they start large-scale recruitment, Mr. Basher added. Nearly 0.6 million Bangladeshis are now working in the South East Asian nation. The Bangladeshi recruiters had sent some 0.475 million jobseekers in 2006 and 2007 before KL slapped the ban. Ali Haider Chowdhury said they discussed the issue of migration cost with Malaysian officials. "We urged the Malaysian officials to set the cost of migration in consultation with the Bangladeshi authorities. All recruiters will follow the benchmark to be set by KL," he said.