KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 — Human Resources Minister Richard Riot Jaem represented Malaysia in Dhaka today to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to hire 1.5 million Bangladeshis to fill a massive labour shortage across all sectors despite local resistance over their intake.
Under the agreement, Bangladeshi recruits will work in all sectors, including construction, manufacturing and the services industry and will be paid a monthly floor wage of between RM800 and RM900, South Asian news portal The Daily Sun reported Riot saying.
The MoU was signed by Bangladesh’s Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Nurul Islam.
Malaysia is seen as one of the biggest labour markets for Bangladeshi workers, another Bangladesh news portal bdnews24.com reported.
It added that some 600,000 Bangladeshis are currently working in Malaysia.
Today’s agreement is expected to pave the way for 1.5 million Bangladeshis to work in Malaysia following a previous failed government-to-government worker recruitment deal in 2012.
According to bdnews24.com, the initiative saw only 10,000 Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia into the plantations sector in the year it was launched.
Putrajaya is facing resistance and criticism from several civil and trade groups over its plan to bring in the foreign workers that it said was needed for the 3D jobs that Malaysians are purportedly snubbing.
Around 50 members from the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) protested outside the government complex housing the Home and Human Resource Ministries this morning condemning the government’s move.
But Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who has been away in the US this week, gave an assurance today that he will have a talk with his deputy Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on the government decision for the new Bangladeshi hire and will safeguard the country’s economy.
