Process for manpower export to Malaysia continues

Industry Desk: The dilatory attitude of the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment in Dhaka and the Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur continues to linger the procedure for sending Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia.
The ministry is yet to finalise the list of medical centres and approve the recruitment in response to the demand letter. The High Commission hasn’t completed the attestation of the Malaysian companies and sent any new attested demand letters.
The Malaysian employers, their designated Bangladeshi agencies and aspirant migrant workers have expressed frustration over the snail-paced approach of the authorities in Dhaka. Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad repeatedly told that they were working round the clock to complete their tasks in Bangladesh part, but the government hasn’t finalised the list of medical centres where aspirant workers would go through health screening.
Imran Ahmad earlier said that the list of medical centres would be finalised at an inter-ministerial meeting on July 14. However, the meeting did not take place.
He said they would start sending workers to Malaysia at the end of this month. It is to be mentioned that earlier on June 2, after the meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) of the two countries, he said the process would begin by the end of June but he failed to keep his words.
The Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur has inspected 15 Malaysian companies and sent their 882 demand letters to the ministry after completing attestation but the ministry is yet to approve any of these demand letters.
Asked about finalising the list of medical centres and approving demand letters, the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister didn’t want to make any comment.
An official of the ministry, seeking not to be named, said they have worked to connect the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment and the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) with the Malaysian government’s central online recruitment system for foreign workers, Foreign Workers Centralized Management System (FWCMS).
Besides, they are scrutinizing everything rigorously as the whole process of sending workers is sensitive and it is subject to compliance with the requirements of the Malaysian government.
Meanwhile, a source at the Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur has confirmed that there is no development in inspecting the Malaysian companies by the High Commission.
As a result, they couldn’t resume the attestation process and send new demand letters from the Malaysian employers.
Recruiting agencies and aspirant migrant workers have said they are tired of the slow pace in the manpower recruitment process.
“Seven months have elapsed since Bangladesh and Malaysia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and a month and a half have gone since the meeting of the JWG held. But we haven’t seen any significant development except for fixing migration costs. This is frustrating,” said Raihan Sharif Ahmmed, owner of RM Enterprise, a manpower recruiting agency.
“Nepal has started sending workers to Malaysia. If we take more time, more countries will involve and employers will lose interest in Bangladeshi workers,” he added.
Lifting its suspension on the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers, the Malaysian cabinet decided to hire workers on December 10, 2021, and nine days later Malaysia and Bangladesh signed an MoU in this regard.
Malaysia suspended hiring Bangladeshi workers in September 2018 over widespread allegations of malpractices in the recruitment process and charging higher costs from labourers by recruitment agencies through middlemen.