Malaysia labour market to remain open for Bangladeshis: State minister
State-run recruiting agency, Boesl, sent another group of 73 workers to Malaysia at zero cost today (16 May)
State Minister for Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Shofiqur Rahman Choudhury has said Bangladesh will continue to export manpower to Malaysia.
"The government is actively pursuing the reinstatement of the quota. We have reached out to Malaysia, and hopefully, their labour market will continue to remain open for our workers," he told reporters after attending a send-off event for workers departing for Malaysia through BOESL, free of migration expenses, at the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment today (16 May).
Under the existing quota system, the Malaysian government has mandated that 14 labour-exporting nations, including Bangladesh, must deploy their workers to Malaysia by 31 May.
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"We have sent a letter to the Malaysian authorities, requesting to extend the deadline. However, even if the extension is not granted, it will not be an issue, as efforts are underway to ensure all workers are dispatched within the allocated quota and timeframe," the state minister said.
After Malaysia's labour market reopened in December 2021, thousands of Bangladeshi workers found themselves unemployed upon arrival, according to labour rights organisations.
Currently, out of 2,500 recruiting agencies, only 100 are permitted to send workers, with allegations pointing towards a syndicate as the main culprit behind the plight of these migrant workers.
Despite the government setting a migration cost of around Tk79,000, reports suggest that the corrupt syndicate, along with middlemen and some employers, are charging Tk4.50 to Tk5 lakh per worker.
However, there is a zero-cost migration initiative offered by the state-owned recruiting agency BOESL to facilitate worker placements in the Southeast Asian country.
The agency received approval to send 10,000 workers under the scheme. However, sources from BOESL indicate that a corrupt syndicate has hindered this initiative by creating obstacles to its implementation.
Since late 2022, the agency has managed to send only 1,308 workers to Malaysia at no cost.
On Thursday, BOESL dispatched another group of 73 workers to Malaysia without migration expenses. They will be working at a company named United Plantation of Malaysia.
