PARLIAMENT The claim of 1.4 million Bangladeshi workers will be brought into Malaysia to overcome the shortage of workers in the country is not accurate, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Instead, Deputy Human Resources Minister Ismail Abd Muttalib said, the figure referred to the number of Bangladeshis who had registered with their government to work in Malaysia.

He said the entry of workers from Bangladesh into Malaysia was based on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by the two countries last year.

“The MOU states that the entry of Bangladeshi workers is only allowed through the government to government (G2G) mechanism, where the process is managed by the relevant government agencies in both countries.

“It does not involve agents or a third party,” he said in response to a question by Abdul Manan Ismail (BN-Paya Besar).

Ismail said besides complying with several conditions set by the Malaysian government, like the requirement for workers to undergo health checks and induction training, the workers would also be screened by the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) and the Immigration Department.

As of Sept 23, 8,703 workers’ documents had been sent for screening, of which had been filtered by PDRM 2,288 where 75 of the applicants were found to have criminal records, he added.

He said 11 plantation companies had applied for 1,640 Bangladeshi workers through the G2G mechanism, but approval was given to only three companies, namely Sime Darby, UP Plantation and Kulim Plantation, involving 1,145 workers.

To ensure effectiveness of the recruitment procedures, only employers that are eligible will be allowed to apply for the workers and they are also required to place a bond where they will be required to take the workers at the stipulated time.

“Workers who are not claimed will be placed temporarily at the processing house until the process of replacing the employers is completed,” he added.

To a supplementary question from Abdul Manan on measures taken by the government to reduce the number of foreign workers in the country, Ismail said implementation of the National Blue Ocean strategy had produced results.

He said the number of foreign workers in the public sector had been reduced to 2.1 million currently, from 2.2 million last June.

Employers are also encouraged to give priority to locals for job offers before applying for foreign workers to fill the vacant posts, he added.

- Bernama