Bangladesh to resume sending workers to Malaysia this month

Highlights:

• 2 lakh workers to be recruited in Malaysia within 1 year
• Minimum salary: 1500 RM
• Migration cost: less than Tk1.6 lakh
• Malaysian minister said Bangladesh can earn $45 billion in the next five years

Bangladesh is going to resume sending workers to Malaysia this month, as issues relevant to the matter have finally been resolved in a meeting yesterday, five months after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard.

"Workers will start going to Malaysia by the end of this June. I hope there will be no more meetings to open the market," Minister for Expatriate Welfare Imran Ahmed told reporters after a meeting of the Joint Working Group of the two countries in Dhaka at Probashi Kalyan Bhaban on Thursday.

"Two lakh workers will go to Malaysia in a year. Their minimum salary will be 1,500 Malaysian Ringgit per month and the migration cost will be less than Tk1.6 lakh," he added.

Imran Ahmed said according to the MoU signed in December 2021, five lakh people would migrate to Malaysia in five years. However, if other countries do not send workers to Malaysia – where the demand for manpower is huge – Bangladesh can send five lakh people there this year.

Bangladesh can earn $45B in remittances in next 5 years: Malaysia

At yesterday's meeting, Malaysian Human Resources Minister M Saravanan and Bangladeshi Minister for Expatriate Welfare Imran Ahmed led the delegates from their respective countries.

Bangladesh has left it up to Malaysia to decide how many agencies will send people from Bangladesh to Malaysia. As a result, according to Malaysia's proposal, a syndicate of 25 recruiting agencies will send people to that country, said the recruiters who have been protesting against the syndicate.

In response to a question in this regard, yesterday Imran Ahmed told reporters, "We have sent a list of 1,520 recognised agencies of Bangladesh to Malaysia through which the workers could migrate. However, the MoU states that finalising the agency selection process is the prerogative of the Malaysian government."

"The number of agencies you mention – like 25, 50 or 100 – are nowhere mentioned in the MoU, and there is no such figure in the record of our discussions today," he added.

"Malaysia has already offered to take migrant workers through 25 agencies. Now if our ministry leaves the matter of determining the number of agencies to Malaysia, then there will be a syndicate," Shamim Ahmed Chowdhury Noman, former secretary general of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) told The Business Standard.

Read More: Malaysia will decide how many recruiting agencies can send Bangladeshi workers: Minister

"The matter has been abandoned from our end. Currently, no other country is sending workers to Malaysia. If we rejected their unethical offer, they would have been forced to take people from Bangladesh in an open system, but unfortunately we could not remain strict," he said.

While paying a courtesy call on Thursday, Malaysian Human Resources Minister M Saravanan informed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that Malaysia has taken a five-year action plan for migrant workers and increased the minimum wage to RM1,500 (Tk30,436) that was RM1,200 earlier.

He said Bangladesh can earn $45 billion in remittances from Malaysia in the next five years.

Bangladeshi remitters sent $1.09 billion last year from Malaysia.

At the meeting, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her optimism that both sides would be able to devise ways to ensure safe, regular, inexpensive, and orderly employment of Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia.

"The prime minister gave assurance of her government to send Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia with maintaining all necessary protocols, including vaccination and other formalities," said a release of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) press wing.

Malaysian Human Resource Minister M Saravanan came to Dhaka on Wednesday to attend the joint working group meeting.

Recruiters protest against syndication

A group of recruiters yesterday protested against the syndicate in front of the National Press Club. Earlier, they held a press conference in the press club.

Malaysia opened its door, which has been closed since 2018, to Bangladesh workers following syndicated manpower recruitment by 10 Bangladeshi agencies since 2015.

Local recruiters claim the same group is now actively lobbying both at home and abroad so that Dhaka eventually agrees to Kuala Lumpur's proposal. 

Migration cost to drop below Tk1.60 lakh

On immigration costs, Imran Ahmed said, "Workers will have to bear a small part of the cost in Bangladesh. The Malaysian minister said they will try to ensure a zero-cost migration process at their end. If any agency or employer violates it, they will take action against it."

Malaysian employers will bear the costs, including accommodation, air tickets and quarantine fees, he said.

The minister said, "If any agency takes extra money beyond our fixed cost, we will take action. Earlier, the cost of going to Malaysia was Tk1.6 lakh. We hope it will be less than that this time."

"At the same time, Bangladesh will try to open up the sector for security personnel and domestic workers to Malaysia, which is currently closed," said Dr Ahmed Munirus Saleheen, secretary at Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment.