Cost-free migration of Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia begins

Eighteen months after the reopening of Malaysian labour market, Bangladeshi workers have started going to the southeast Asian country at free of cost.

All expenses of outbound workers from their passport to air ticket will be borne by the employer company of Malaysia, while their expenditure for immigration, visa, medical test, treatment, insurance and accommodation after reaching the destination country will also be carried out by employers.

Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad said the Malaysian government has interest in taking Bangladeshi workers at low cost or free of cost.

“Malaysia is committed to hire 10,000 workers from Bangladesh without any charge. The country has showed its interest in this regard when it signed the new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bangladesh,” the minister said.

Malaysia signed the latest MoU to recruit Bangladeshi workers on December 19, 2021, which will remain valid till December 2026.

According to the government’s decision, a Malaysia-bound Bangladeshi worker will have to pay Tk 79,990 to go to the Southeast Asian country, but allegations are rife that recruiting agencies take Tk 3,50,000 to Tk 5,00,000 to send a worker to Malaysia. 

The first batch of 20 Bangladeshi workers, selected by JG Alfalah Management Ltd for the cost-free migration, was scheduled to fly from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka through a Malindo Air flight at 11:00pm on Monday.

The workers will be received by officials of the employer company Instyle Sofa Sdn Bhd, a reputed Malaysian furniture company, at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Former secretary general of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) Ruhul Amin Swapan briefed about the initiative in presence of workers and their family members at Catharsis Complex in the capital on Monday morning.

“They will get at least 1500 Malaysian Ringgit with minimum two hours overtime facilities. That means they would be able to earn around Tk 50,000 per month, which is almost double than the earnings of Bangladeshi workers who work in the Middle Eastern countries,” he said.

The 20 workers and their family members present in the programme expressed their joy and gratitude for getting this opportunity to fulfil their dreams.

Md Poran Islam of Ashtogram upazila under Kishoreganj district and Sentu Das of Sunamganj Sadar said they never could imagine that they would be able to go to Malaysia free of cost but it is now a reality for them.

Hailing from Gaibandha Sadar Md Sohrab Hossain, father of selected worker Najmul Hasan Nahid, said his son remained unemployed since completion of his graduation. He didn’t have the ability to send him to Malaysia but this initiative has opened a new avenue of opportunity for his son.

Addressing the reporters, Swapan, also the owner of Catharsis International, the coordinator of the initiative, said they had been trying to send Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia without any cost for long but Malaysian employers couldn’t rely on Bangladeshi agencies.

“I hope with this initiative the Malaysian employers will realise that Bangladeshi workers really can go there without spending any money and our recruiting agencies have the necessary capacity and reliability for this. If it succeeds other employers will surely show their interests,” he added.

According to Swapan, some 101 Bangladeshi recruiting agencies, including the state-owned Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL), are involved with the initiative and their dividend have already been paid by the employer company.

“Initially we have selected workers from the list of workers who were registered with us,” the BAIRA former secretary general said, adding that they will introduce a job lottery system for selecting workers if they get good response.

Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Sarwar Alam said they will assist the recruiting agencies so that they can send more workers without any charge.

He also said that the ministry will keep a close eye on the activities of agencies and urged the workers to work in Malaysia following the rules and regulations of the employer company.

“You have to own the company where you will work. I hope you will keep the reputation of Bangladeshi workers intact so that Malaysian employers feel interest to take more workers from here at free of cost,” the deputy secretary said.

Terming Malaysian labour market an important destination of Bangladeshi workers, Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) Deputy Director Sajjadur Rahman Sarker said they are working to ensure interests of the workers.

“Malaysia is a huge market for our workers. Since August 8 last year, some 237,000 Bangladeshi workers have gone to the Southeast Asian country. This new initiative of sending workers without any charge will make more workers interested to go to Malaysia,” he added.

According to organisers, Instyle Sofa Sdn Bhd will recruit 95 more workers through three Bangladeshi agencies in July this year and other employer companies from plantation and electronics sector are also contacting them to start similar recruitment procedure.