The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

Malaysian government may consider the lifting of embargo on fresh recruitment of Bangladeshi workers once problems recently caused by unscrupulous agents are resolved. Talking to UNB at his residence on Friday, Malaysian High Commissioner in Dhaka Abdul Malek Bin Abdul Aziz said the Malaysian government has been taking measures to address the problems recently faced by the Bangladeshi workers on their arrival at Kuala Lumpur.

The measures include the concerned companies will have to pick up Bangladeshi workers within 70-72 hours of their arrival at Kuala Lumpur airport. Besides, before the workers' departure from Dhaka, they will have to get the "confirmation" from their respective companies in Malaysia.

Earlier, the High Commissioner said, recruiting agents in Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur recruited and received the workers without proper knowledge of respective companies.

Now, he said, officials of Malaysian Human Resource Department visit the respective companies to check if they have confirmed the new recruitment of workers for their companies to stop recurrence of unpleasant situation.

"So far, there is no problem now," the envoy said, adding that around 200,000 of the Bangladesh workers already arrived in Malaysia and the remaining 100,000 are in the process for departure.

The Malaysian government had approved an initial intake of 300,000 workers from Bangladesh.

The workers are employed in manufacturing, plantation and service sectors.On October 4, Malaysia banned fresh recruitment of Bangladeshi workers after hundreds of them were stranded at Kuala Lumpur airport because their employers failed to collect them promptly.

As a result, many workers had to pass days without food. There were some demonstrations by angry workers outside the Bangladesh mission in Kuala Lumpur. The Malaysian government placed a similar restriction in 1999, but lifted the ban last year.Malaysia has 2.7 million legal foreign workers, mainly from Indonesia. More than 300,000 Bangladeshi workers are now employed in Malaysia with valid documents.