Malaysia closes manpower mkt

Thousands of Bangladeshi jobseekers are left in the queue as Malaysia closed its manpower market under a May-31 timeline for an embargo on foreign recruits, sources said.

The host country stopped hiring foreign workers from today (Saturday) with the ultimatum being over, but at least 20,000 Bangladeshi workers who have paid and are in the process of migrating to the ASEAN nation may fail to enter Malaysia, said sector-insiders.

Each of the workers has given more than Tk 500,000 to the recruiting agencies as migration cost. As a result, there is also an "uncertainty about recovery this money", they said.

The Southeast-Asian nation recently announced a freeze on foreign- worker recruitment, including Bangladeshis. The application window for foreign-worker visas (VDRs) issued by Malaysian representative offices abroad expired on April 21.

However, Biman Bangladesh Airlines has a schedule to operate a special flight on the Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur route helping the workers go to Malaysia. The flight was due to leave Dhaka at 7:15pm on Friday carrying a total of 271 passengers.

On the other hand, there had been multiple special flights of other airlines for the Malaysia-bound workers in the last few days to help send the workers by the deadline.

Talking to the FE, Ali Haider Chowdhury, secretary-general of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), said in the last few days there were several special flights to send workers to Malaysia in time.

"Even then, some workers may not be able to go to the country. However, after the deadline, it will be known how many workers failed to reach Malaysia."

He also said they had already agreed in a meeting with Minister for Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Shofiqur Rahman Choudhury to give the money back to those who cannot go to the job destination.

Currently, more than 1.0 million Bangladeshi nationals, mostly unskilled labourers, reside in Malaysia. Their money transfers home steadily increased from $1.02 billion in FY 2021-22 to $1.12 billion in FY 2022-23 and reached $1.22 billion by April this year.

Following a three-year ban on Bangladeshi-worker recruitment, Malaysia signed an agreement in December 2021 to pave the way for over 400,000 Bangladeshi workers to get there.

State Minister Shofiqur Rahman Choudhury told the FE that Malaysia would not be hiring workers from its source countries under the existing arrangement.

He also requested a one-month extension from Malaysia to allow already-approved workers in the country.

While the ministry cited the quota system to explain the May-31 deadline, manpower-recruitment agencies alleged the closure is not due to reaching the quota but rather a result of alleged misconduct in manpower send by a group of Bangladeshi businessmen.

Manpower exporters claim that many Bangladeshi workers were sent to Malaysia without confirmed job offers, leaving them in limbo. This ultimately led to the market closure once again.

Sources involved in the process estimated around 40,000 to 50,000 Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia, especially in the construction sector, currently languishing sans jobs.

Irregularities have plagued the Malaysian job market since Bangladesh began sending workers there. Over the past 15 years, the market has been shut down multiple times following alleged malpractice.

Shakirul Islam, chairman of the Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program, says there have always been various problems with the Malaysian market.

"These malpractices need to be stopped before sending workers to that destination."

He also suggests that steps should be made so that workers who are unable to go to Malaysia can go later on.

"And if they can't go, the recruiters have to arrange for their money back. Otherwise, the government should take legal action against the recruiters concerned.

"Since they cannot send, why did they take money from the workers?" he posed the question.

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