Trade
6 years ago

G2G-plus arrangement

Bangladesh workers still find jobs in Malaysia

Representational image (Collected)
Representational image (Collected)

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Bangladeshi workers still find jobs in Malaysia under G2G-plus arrangement amid Malaysian media reports on suspension of the recruitment system, sources said.

Malaysia is yet to make any such decision to stop recruitment from Bangladesh under the government to government (G2G)-plus deal, an official quoted the Malaysian High Commission.

The Malaysian High Commission in Dhaka held a meeting with the expatriates' welfare secretary recently.

It said Malaysia is only reviewing the recruitment process.

On June 22, Malaysian human resources minister M Kulasegaran declared that they suspended the current recruitment system due to syndicate and corruption.

Quoting him, Malaysia-based Star Online recently reported that Malaysia suspended existing system for recruiting Bangladeshi workers.

Until then, the South-east Asian country would go back to the old system so that the application process could be managed by the government, Mr Kulasegaran added.

"This suspension will last until a full investigation has been completed into allegations that a syndicate was operating it as a human trafficking scheme…," he told the Malaysian newspaper.

Contacted, Aminul Islam, additional secretary of expatriates' welfare and overseas employment ministry, said the outflow of workers under the G2G-plus system still remains as usual.

"We were also not formally informed of the suspension by our Kuala Lumpur counterpart," he added.

Mr Islam welcomed the Malaysian move to probe and review the recruitment mechanism to crack down on the syndicate of the recruiting agents.

A total of 11,835 workers were provided emigration clearances under the G2G-plus system in the last eight days, according to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET).

The BMET data showed that more than 0.2 million Bangladeshis were sent to Malaysia under the system since 2016.

Benjir Ahmed, president of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies, said the Malaysian move did not affect the workers' flow into that country.

"The recruitment of Bangladeshi workers by Malaysian employers has remained normal," he told the FE.

The new Malaysian government believes some sharp practices exist in this migration process. So, they launched an investigation, Mr Ahmed added.

Migrant rights campaigners said monopoly business cannot run in the process of sending workers abroad.

Bangladesh should help Malaysia check such malpractices, they added.

Experts and rights campaigners have been criticising the G2G-plus deal since its signing in 2016.

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