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BD ready to send manpower to Malaysia


Published : 10 Jun 2020 09:38 PM | Updated : 06 Sep 2020 12:31 PM

The coronavirus will subsequently make major changes to the recruitment of foreign workers in Malaysia and the Bangladesh government is ready to send manpower to Malaysia after the pandemic situation.

Malaysia is the largest labor market for our workforce after Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. This market has been closed for almost two years. In the current corona virus situation, the issue of opening up the labor market depends on the needs and policy of Malaysian employing authorities.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh government is ready to send workers as per the demand of the country with the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Malaysia in the near future. Bangladesh will be able to send workers if the country starts all kinds of work after the lockdown in Malaysia goes up at the end of July. As a result, the Malaysian labor market is expected to be open after July.

According to the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment, Malaysia has promised several times to open the labor market, but it has not been implemented. As a result, it remains closed for the last two years.

Earlier, rumors started circulating that the Malaysian labor market would open in July 2018. As it did not happen, the ministerial meeting of the two countries was held in Malaysia from 3 to 6 November of that year.

There were discussions on ensuring minimum immigration costs for sending workers, involving more recruiting agencies from both countries in the process of sending workers, health checks, social and financial security of workers and exchange of database statistics. But in the end, Malaysia postponed the meeting citing their internal problems.

However, after corona virus situation, there is a possibility to reopen up the labor market to the needs of the countries. When the lockdown will be lifted in July, a protocol or memorandum of understanding will be signed. And all the requirements starting from the database of the Malaysian government will be fulfilled. Once this is done, there will be no more obstacles to sending workers to Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Expatriate Welfare Minister Imran Ahmed told reporters on Sunday, May 31 that the Malaysian government could open the labor market from next July after the lockdown. In that case, the government is fully prepared to send workers to Malaysia and the government of that country will be contacted in this regard.

Secretary of the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Ahmed Munirus Salehin said, “If the recruiting countries change their policies and send us demand letters after the corona virus situation becomes normal, then we are ready from all sides.”

“We are continuing with the training activities of the staff. At the same time all our systems have been developed. The Malaysian lockdown could open in July. Hopefully then the labor market there will be open for Bangladeshi workers,” he added.

The Expatriate Welfare Secretary said,“In future all the workers will be sent from a database. The work of that database has been completed. At present it is confined to Dhaka district. We will be able to launch it all over the country by this June. The Remittance Act of 2013 states that workers must be sent abroad from a database.”

However, the Malaysian Senior Minister (Security) Dato' Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob told reporters last Thursday (June 4) that the corona virus will subsequently make major changes to the recruitment of foreign workers in Malaysia, as well as create a strict security zone to prevent illegal entry.

Dato' Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob said, “There would be significant changes in the policy of controlling immigrants (illegal immigrants) after Covid-19. Elaborating on the policy of hiring foreign workers and for illegal immigrants, he said the number of victims has increased due to lack of awareness among legal-illegal immigrants in several other countries, including Malaysia and neighboring Singapore.”

“As part of that, it is time to revise the policy by following the new entry of foreigners. This is because there will be significant changes in the policy of hiring foreign workers and in preventing the arrival of illegal foreigners,” he said.

“We have noticed that the outbreak of Covid-19 has severely damaged the economy in various ways, including the tourism sector, which has led to the closure of many hotels and factories. Unemployment has risen as a result of the removal of workers.”

Noting that the next economic recovery could be slow, Dato' Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakobsaid the government's policy would be to give priority to local people working abroad rather than foreigners. He also said that discussions would be held with the concerned ministries to review the policy on reducing the number of foreign workers.