MoU on Malaysian labour market reopening to be signed on Sunday
The Malaysian cabinet decided to resume recruitment of Bangladeshi workers on 10 December
The long-awaited memorandum of understanding (MoU) is expected to be signed on Sunday between Bangladesh and Malaysia for reopening the Malaysian labour market that has remained closed for more than three years for Bangladeshi workers.
A four-member team led by the Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment minister Imran Ahmed was scheduled to fly to Malaysia Saturday.
A press conference was held in this connection Friday at the ministry.
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Earlier, on 10 December, the Malaysian cabinet decided to resume recruitment of Bangladeshi workers.
"Admission of these Bangladeshi workers will be implemented immediately after the MoU is signed," a media release of the Malaysian human resource ministry said.Commenting on syndicates of recruiting agencies to send workers to Malaysia, Imran Ahmed Friday said he was against any syndicate.
"We want to send workers in a process where all recruiting agencies can participate, not some particular agencies. We have to wait till the signing of the MoU," the minister said.
Industry insiders fear that the labour market may fall in the grip of the syndicate again as the process of participation of the recruiting agencies has not been made clear.
In the meantime, the ministry has taken an initiative to create a database of skilled, experienced and other workers who want to go abroad. The workers will be sent to Malaysia using this database, which in turn will help reduce the tyranny of middlemen.
The Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) is preparing the database.
BMET Director General Md Shahidul Alam told the TBS that workers must register first in the database to work in Malaysia and other countries.
Malaysia suspended hiring Bangladeshi workers in September 2018 over allegations of malpractices in the recruitment process and high recruitment costs.
During that time, 10 Bangladeshi recruiting agencies were involved in sending workers under a G2G plus agreement.
