KL to hire workers in three sectors
Malaysian Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot yesterday informed the government that they will hire workers from Bangladesh in three sectors -- construction, plantation and manufacturing.
The minister, who arrived yesterday, revealed the information after holding a bilateral meeting with Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Nurul Islam in the capital.
Officials at the ministry said the two governments are now in the final phase of starting the workers' recruitment process and hoped to start sending the workers within a month or two.
The migration cost has been set at around Tk 40,000, they added. Nurul Islam is scheduled to brief reporters about the developments today, they said.
“We already have an agreement with Malaysia for the workers' recruitment. Now, we have discussed to expedite the process…,” an additional secretary of the ministry told The Daily Star yesterday.
The Malaysian government suspended the recruitment of foreign workers from all countries including Bangladesh on February 19, a day after the two governments signed a memorandum of understanding in Dhaka.
But the ministry officials said the agreement was not suspended rather they were negotiating on key issues like recruitment process, migration costs and salaries.
After criticisms over an alleged syndicate comprising some selective Bangladeshi recruiting agents, the expatriates' welfare ministry said it will not give any scope of forming a syndicate during the recruitment process.
“We have discussed with the visiting minister and informed him that they must include our 745 recruiting agents for the job. Otherwise, the process will be hampered due to some selective agents and the cost will also increase, which cannot be allowed,” said the expatriates' welfare minister.
However, Ruhul Amin, secretary general of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies, said they are not aware of the Malaysian government's decision yet.
Malaysia has been a popular destination for Bangladeshi migrant workers over the last three decades but the recruitment process has always been tainted by malpractices that result in labour abuses.
Following massive irregularities during 2006 and 2008, Malaysia froze recruitment from Bangladesh in early 2009. In late 2012, the country began labour recruitment on a limited scale, but it did not work well allegedly for influence of recruitment agents having vested interests in both the countries.
Currently, around three lakh Bangladeshis are working in different sectors in Malaysia legally while a good number of the Bangladeshis are also working without legal documents.
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