Yunus set for crucial bilateral talks as Malaysian PM due tomorrow

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka tomorrow, at the invitation of Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus, to discuss ways to elevate the relations between the two countries.

During the bilateral meeting, various areas of mutual interest, including economics, politics, trade and investment, education, technology and human resource development, manpower export, higher education cooperation, communications, infrastructure development, and defence cooperation are expected to be highlighted, said Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain.

"Dhaka will prioritise reopening the Malaysian labour market for Bangladeshi workers, keeping it free of any recruiting agency syndicate, during the visit of Anwar Ibrahim," a source at the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment told TBS.

Members of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) have also urged the two leaders to prevent the resurgence of a recruiting agency syndicate in Malaysia's labour market.

The Malaysian prime minister is likely to land at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at around 2pm and go directly to a hotel where he will be staying for around four hours, a senior official at the foreign ministry told UNB.

This will be the first visit by a Malaysian prime minister to Bangladesh in almost a decade, and the first official visit by any head of government since the interim government was formed on 8 August.

The bilateral meeting between Yunus and Ibrahim will be held at the same hotel, to be followed by a joint briefing.

The Malaysian PM will also meet President Mohammed Shahabuddin, foreign ministry officials said.

They said the Rohingya issue is expected to come up in the discussion. Malaysia will be the next chair of ASEAN from January 2025 and the issue of Bangladesh to become a Sectoral Dialogue Partner in ASEAN in terms of regional cooperation is likely to be particularly highlighted, they said.

"As a result, this visit is very important in terms of bilateral relations," said the foreign affairs adviser.

The visit is expected to be considered as an expression of deepening bilateral relations and enduring friendship between Bangladesh and Malaysia, said the adviser.

A 58-member delegation will accompany the Malaysian PM, including the country's foreign minister, trade and investment minister, deputy minister of transport, deputy minister of religious affairs, two members of parliament and senior officials of the foreign ministry.

Yunus has long-standing good ties with Malaysia, the eighth largest investor in Bangladesh.

In August this year, the chief adviser invited Ibrahim to undertake a short visit to Bangladesh as soon as possible to further strengthen the relations between the two countries.

In August, the Malaysian leader made a phone call to Yunus to congratulate him personally on his appointment as chief adviser.

Call for elimination of syndicate in worker recruitment

Baira members during a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity yesterday said a syndicate has previously tarnished the reputations of both governments.

When the so-called syndicate of a limited number of agencies was formed in 2021, Anwar Ibrahim was not in power, they said, adding that they are hopeful that the Malaysian PM will reject the system.

The Baira members demanded the exclusion of Malaysia's controversial and corruption-accused IT company Bestinet and its foreign worker recruitment online system, Foreign Workers Centralized Management System (FWCMS). Instead, they demanded the use of

Bangladesh's online system and the manual process proposed by the Malaysian government.

This is how the leaders of the syndicate primarily control all the agencies, they said.

"We respectfully request the honourable Prime Minister of Malaysia, on behalf of Baira's 2,500 members and the workers bound for Malaysia, to keep the Bangladeshi labour market open to all without giving any syndicate preferential treatment, as is done in other countries," said Mohammad Fakhrul Islam, joint secretary general of Baira's immediate-past committee.

He added, "We never imagine that syndicates will be formed under the leadership of Prof Yunus. If the syndicate is allowed to operate, there will be no distinction between the interim government and the previous autocratic regime.

"The Malaysian government did not act alone in forming the syndicate; our former autocratic government was also involved. Many believe that the current secretary of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare supports the syndicate. We want his position to be clarified."

From 2009 to 2015, the Malaysian labour market remained closed for Bangladeshi workers. 

In 2016, when the market reopened during the Sheikh Hasina regime, the Malaysian authorities allowed only 10 Bangladeshi recruiting agencies to send workers, forming a so-called syndicate.

A nexus of corrupt groups both in Bangladesh and Malaysia are involved in this process of forming a syndicate. 

It is alleged that former Baira secretary Ruhul Amin Shawpon and Bangladeshi-origin Malaysian businessman Dato Amin were key figures behind the syndicate. However, Shawpon denied the allegations frequently to the media.

Due to the allegations of huge corruption and embezzlement of money from poor workers, the market was closed again in 2018. 

But again, the syndicate was formed in 2021 when the market reopened with the involvement of influential Awami League ministers and MPs.

At that time, 100 agencies were allowed to send workers which were primarily only 25. Now, Malaysia has again stopped hiring workers since June this year.

"We will continue our movement if a syndicate is formed again," said Riaz-ul-Islam, acting president of Baira's immediate-past committee at the press conference. 

The Baira members urged the government to bring back Tk24,000 crore allegedly embezzled and laundered from the Malaysian labour market through the syndicate. 

They also demanded that syndicate leaders be punished.