Malaysia’s freeze on hiring foreign workers: Big blow for Bangladesh’s aspiring migrant workers

Malaysia's decision to put a freeze on new foreign worker recruitment will adversely affect Bangladesh's labour migration as the Southeast Asian nation is a large overseas job market for low-skilled Bangladeshi workers.

"This decision will be a big blow as Malaysia is one of our large markets," said Ali Haider Chowdhury, secretary general of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira).

More than 4 lakh workers have migrated to the Southeast Asian nation after it reopened its labour market in 2022.

Last year, Malaysia was the second largest overseas job market for Bangladesh after Saudi Arabia after 3.5 lakh workers migrated there.

Malaysian Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said his government would not allow foreign workers into the country under the active quotas starting on June 1, reports New Straits Times.

Any decision on fresh recruitment of foreign workers will be made after the government has the full details of the quota of workers who have not entered the country by May 31 and the outcome of the ongoing labour recalibration programme (RTK2.0) process, which will end entirely on June 30, 2024, said Malaysian Human Resources Minister Steven Sim.

The current freeze on foreign workers' hiring quota will be maintained as the number of migrant workers has almost hit the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) target, Sim said, reports The Star.

The government has decided that the foreign worker quota cannot exceed 15 percent of the total workforce by 2025, he said during Minister's Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat, according to The Star report.

As of March 15, there were about 2.17 million foreign workers in Malaysia, according to the Malaysian Immigration Department's records.

The government will also take into account the existing quota for hiring foreign workers before considering a new one, he added.

Bangladesh and Malaysia signed a memorandum of understanding in December 2021 in Kuala Lumpur that lifted a nearly four-year moratorium on labour import imposed by Malaysia over allegations of malpractices and irregularities by a "syndicate" of Bangladeshi recruiting agencies.