AS Malaysia has decided to re-open its labour market recently, Bangladesh needs to negotiate effectively and successfully with the Southeast Asian country on penetrating into the labour market while overlooking interests of vested groups.
Sources at Bangladesh Association of international Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) and Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) as well as the Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BMCCI) have shared their observations with Dhaka Tribune.
They said countries like Nepal, Pakistan, India, Indonesia and Cambodia have started lobbying alongside Indonesia to recruit workers from their respective countries.
High-level visits of Bangladesh delegation to Malaysia at regular level will help regularise unregistered workers and to penetrate and explore the labour market in Southeast Asian countries, according to a BAIRA leader.
He also said that political relations between Bangladesh and Malaysia need to be nurtured to scale greater heights in the days to come.
The visits of some important ministers like Finance Minister Abu Hena Mohammad Mustafa Kamal; Home Minister Assaduzman Khan Kamal; Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi; Planning Minister MA Mannan; Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun; Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen; Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed; and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam to Malaysia at regular intervals is important in the context of regularising unregistered Bangladeshis and taking workers in good number.
Malaysia is home to some 800,000 to one million Bangladeshis, according to an unofficial estimate.
Bangladesh exported to different countries a total of 485,893 workers during the January-November period of 2021, 217,669 workers in 2020; 700,159 (2019); 734,181 (2018); 1,008,528 (2017) and 757,731 (2016), according to BMET.
However, labour exports to Malaysia recorded at 919 in 2009, 742 (2011) and 804 (2012), 3,853 (2013) and 5,134 (2014) showing that labour exports to the Southeast Asian country also suffered during 2010-2014.
Altogether, Bangladesh had exported a total of 1.06 million skilled and unskilled workers to Malaysia during the 1976-2019 period, according to BMET.
SM Zillur Rahman, chairman of Rahman Group and former director of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), told Dhaka Tribune that opening of markets is important to boost labour export.
The former DCCI director also stressed that the mass vaccination drive is a large contributor to the revival.
As labour exports to Malaysia are expected to open soon, the Bangladeshi Government should also devise mid- and long-term strategies to send more skilled workers abroad as more labour markets are expected to re-open this year, said a BAIRA member.
Ali Haider Chowdhury, former secretary-general of BAIRA, told Dhaka Tribune that the Bangladeshi Government should be wary about vested quarters in both countries.
Meanwhile, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed is scheduled to fly to Malaysia on Dec 18.
Bangladesh and Malaysia may sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) later in December to re-open the labour market for Bangladeshi workers.
The Malaysian Cabinet had on Dec 10 decided to re-open the recruitment of Bangladeshi and Indonesian workers as it was closed from 2018.
The Southeast Asian country decided to open recruitment of Bangladeshi workers in all sectors including plantation, agriculture, manufacturing, services, mining, construction and household service. – Dec 17, 2021
This article by Imtiaz Ahmed appeared in the Dhaka Tribune of Dec 14.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Photo credit: Dhaka Tribune
