Manpower export to Malaysia will halt after May-31 deadline under an embargo the ASEAN nation declares for a clear-out of "illegal" migrants, including Bangladeshis.
The Bangladeshi workers who have already been recruited need to reach Malaysia by this cutoff time, when the doors will shut, Malaysian High Commissioner in Dhaka Hannah Md Hashim said Wednesday.
And so far there is no sign of extension of this deadline, she said while talking to the Diplomatic Correspondents Association of Bangladesh (DCAB) members at a meeting organised by the Malaysian High Commission.
"We want to ensure that jobs are guaranteed for those Bangladeshi brothers who are going to Kuala Lumpur," she said, adding: "We want to ensure that everything is in place, only then we have better way forward for the foreign workers."
The envoy of the newly industrialized country or NIC mentions that Malaysia is under huge burden of illegal foreign workers coming from 15 countries.
Even a huge number of Rohingyas are there, she said while stating that the Malaysian government wants to keep the situation in order first.
"So give us some space," she said, urging all concerned to keep patience.
Presently, the Malaysian government is conducting a recalibration programme under which illegal foreign workers are given a deadline- the end of this year- to return to their respective countries, she said in describing steps being taken by her government to put the house in order.
She categorically said the illegal migrants are considered as a national- security threat.
On the issue of manpower syndicate she said these are beyond control of both the governments. But the two governments are in good cooperation to address this issue.
She pointed out that in future, Malaysia would hire foreign workers on need basis.
Previously, Malaysia kept recruitment of Bangladeshi workers suspended between September 2018 and August 2022 on charges of wanton irregularities in the migration process on both sides, as reports says syndicates marred the manpower market.
Migration-rights activists and sector-insiders estimated that some 100,000 Bangladeshi workers could not manage any job in Malaysia.
An estimated over 0.6 million Bangladeshi workers are there in Malaysia. The remittance sent by them through legal channel was over US$1.0 billion in 2022, but in 2021, the amount was 2.0 billion dollars.
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