We are happy to learn that the government has already approached the Malaysian High Commission in Dhaka asking for increasing the number of weekly flights between Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur.

In the meantime, Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) pointed out that it is not being able to forward the 14 hundred finger prints being collected each day to Malaysia for processing of visas since many of the agents are often changing workers listing for various reasons. Conversely, BAIRA has been accused by the agencies of not allowing them to submit such other documents like photographs, passports and medical certificates for entry into the specialised computer network despite the fact that the IT Company that installed the system was willing to do so.

It is thus our apprehension that if such conflicting issues between BAIRA and its operatives are not resolved, recruitment of our manpower by Malaysia may come under fresh strains. We wonder as to why such a situation persists after Malaysia has lifted embargo on Bangladeshi workers being exported to that country.

We must not falter in any way in sending our workers to Malaysia on time along with individual travel documents that are totally fool proof.

Our expatriate workers are the number one foreign exchange earner for the country. We thus owe it to ourselves to make the lives of these people as comfortable as possible as they prepare themselves to go to a foreign land so that our foreign exchange reserves look healthy.