After much delay, workers from Bangladesh are set to arrive in Malaysia in batches starting from the second week of June, according to Bangladesh’s Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET).

Dhaka Tribune reported that the decision came after Bangladesh’s labour wing in Malaysia held a meeting on May 23 with Malaysian government officials.

The report said sending of workers had been delayed because of the recent general election in Malaysia.

A four-member delegation led by the BMET director-general Begum Shamsun Nahar is set to leave Dhaka today to hold a joint technical committee meeting scheduled for May 28 in Malaysia.

“We will discuss technical matters and how to expedite the migration process to Malaysia,” said Nahar.

She said Malaysia intended to recruit 30,000 Bangladeshi workers for its plantation sector under the arrangement between the governments of the two countries.

According to BMET officials, only 180 workers had gone to Malaysia to work in the plantation sector.

The Bangladesh government has randomly selected a pool of 10,000 workers  from a database that was created through online registration held across the country.

Quoting an unnamed director of BMET, the report said Malaysia-bound workers who had completed their training were becoming frustrated due to the long wait and made phone calls to BMET officials to enquire if their visas had been issued.

On the issue, BMET officials said they had already forwarded the information on 6,500 workers to Malaysia.

The government signed an MoU with Malaysia on Nov 26 last year, agreeing to send workers at a low migration cost. A worker now needs Tk33,000 (RM1,236) to go to Malaysia when in the past, private recruiting agencies charged over Tk200,000 (RM7,492) for the same service.

- Bernama