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Dhaka, KL to work out new hiring system

Joint working committee meeting on Sept 25


Arafat Ara | September 18, 2018 00:00:00


Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur are going to discuss ways to introduce a new system of manpower recruitment from Bangladesh, sources said.

A joint working committee meeting will be held in Kuala Lumpur on September 25 to this end.

Representatives from the miniseries of expatriates' welfare and overseas employment, foreign affairs, law, justice and parliamentary affairs and the Prime Minister's office will attend the secretary-level meeting.

The agenda of the meeting is 'to discuss the way forward of alternative to G to G'.

The meeting will discuss all necessary issues regarding the fresh manpower recruitment system, officials said.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said they will establish a single system to hire foreign workers without differentiating source countries, according to a report of the Malaysian newspaper 'The Star online'.

"Bangladesh, Nepal and others, they will use the same system," the report quoted Dr Mahathir as saying.

A senior official of the expatriates' welfare ministry said they would seek to have an idea about the single or uniform system at the upcoming joint working committee meeting.

The Malaysian government has stopped issuing demand letters for Bangladeshi workers since September 01 due to alleged syndication through the online system of 'Sistem Pengambilan Pekerja Asing (SPPA) under the G to G plus MoU'.

But the workers who have completed all procedures before September 01 are allowed to go to Malaysia, officials said.

An organised syndicate of 10 recruiting agencies, led by a Bangladeshi businessman with alleged political connections with the Malaysian home ministry, raked in at least two billion Malaysian ringgits in just two years from Bangladeshi workers, The Star Online reported in June.

The workers paid RM 20,000 (Tk 0.4 million) each to their local agents who then paid half of the sum to the syndicate to have work permit approvals and flight tickets to Malaysia, it said.

About 0.2 million Bangladeshi workers went to Malaysia through SPPA since the signing of G to G plus deal in 2016.

The G to G plus has initiated as the G to G deal failed to send required number of manpower from Bangladesh.

About 0.9 million Bangladeshi workers are now working in the South East Asian country, sources said.

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