The Malaysian human resources minister, Richard Riot Anak Jaem, yesterday said his country would recruit more Bangladeshi labourers, but did not specify how many or what the timetable for recruitment would be.
“Bangladeshis are currently allowed for plantation work only, but the Malaysian cabinet has decided to open other sectors including the building, manufacturing and service sectors to Bangladeshi workers,” the visiting minister said.
He was speaking to the press after holding talks with Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, Bangladesh’s expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment minister, at his office in Probashi Kalyan Bhaban.
Riot said 6,414 workers from Bangladesh had been sent to Malaysia through the G2G system over the last twenty months. Industry insiders said the number represented a fraction of the number of migrants that had gone to work in the South East Asian country before the G2G system was put in place.
The large influx of Bangladeshi workers, including many who had overstayed their visas, led to a clampdown on recruitment and the introduction of more stringent controls on the flow of labour.
Riot said workers would be recruited from a database as demanded by the Malaysian private sector. He said: “We understand that around 1.4 million Bangladeshi workers have registered for Malaysian jobs. They will be taken gradually.”
Mosharraf said non-registered would not be allowed to go to Malaysia, when asked about conditions on sending workers to Malaysia.
The Malaysian government agreed to recruit housemaids from Bangladesh but the recruitment method would later be decided by a sub-committee formed by the two governments, Riot said.
A nine-member Malaysian team led by Riot arrived in Dhaka yesterday on a three-day official visit.
The Malaysian team is scheduled to leave Dhaka for Nepal on Wednesday, said officials.
