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Workers’ migration to Malaysia gathers pace

  • Staff Correspondent
  • 31 January, 2023 12:00 AM
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Despite challenges and conspiracies, the process of sending Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia has gained momentum in recent months.

According to a recent agreement, Bangladesh has approved 240,000 demand letters in the past four months, with approximately 20,000 workers heading to Malaysia each month. All flights to Malaysia for the next two months are fully booked by these workers, making Bangladesh the second-largest source of labour for Malaysia after Nepal.

Recruiting agency owners said Bangladesh would soon surpass Nepal as the largest manpower exporter to Malaysia if the momentum continues. However, a group of conspirators is attempting to undermine Bangladesh's position on the Malaysian labour market.

They said if the conspirators succeed, Bangladesh may lose its most promising labour market again. After the governments of both countries made sincere efforts, workers began traveling to Malaysia on August 8 last year.

As of January 29, over 55,000 workers had migrated to Malaysia, and over 120,000 calling visas had been issued.

Officials confirmed that a total of 111,996 e-Visa applications were submitted and 100,120 e-Visas were issued during this period, while BMET clearances have been issued to 69,310 workers. Sources said the whole process is moving at a faster pace since the completion of the holidays of Chinese New Year.

Malaysia's home minister will visit Dhaka on February 2. He will hold a formal meeting with the Expatriates’ Welfare And Overseas Employment Minister the next day. There will be another round of discussion about the Malaysian labour market at the meeting.

New conspiracies regarding the much-talked labour market began to surface before this meeting. A section of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) has attempted to monopolize the Malaysian labour market by using the name of Malaysia's minister.

In several discussions and events, a leader of the recruiting agency owners claimed he talked to Malaysia's prime minister about the Malaysian labour market.

There has been a video circulating online of a greeting exchange programme conducted by BAIRA members in Nawabganj, on the outskirts of the capital, where he was seen presenting misinformation and making false claims.

An official of the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment said that the minister was shocked and irritated by such a false statement by a responsible person.

Later, on behalf of BAIRA, the secretary general of the organisation expressed his regret to the minister.

On December 19, 2021, Malaysia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to recruit workers from Bangladesh. Since then these a few greedy people have been creating obstacles in this process for securing their personal interests.

Malaysia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to recruit workers from Bangladesh on December 19 in 2021. Since then, a small group of greedy individuals has been creating obstacles in the process for their own personal gain, spreading misinformation and causing delays in sending workers to the Malaysian labor market, to the detriment of both countries' governments and the Malaysian employers.

Insiders in the migration sector say such obstacles create long delays in sending workers to Malaysia.