Malaysia to recruit 10,000 Bangladeshi workers on zero-cost basis

Malaysia has agreed to recruit 10,000 Bangladeshi workers on a “zero-cost” basis, according to Bangladesh’s Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment. The initiative aims to reopen the Malaysian labor market to Bangladeshi workers through a transparent process following previous issues with corruption and mismanagement. The first group of workers will be sent via special chartered flights through the state-owned Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL), covering airfare and migration-related costs.

To facilitate this, Malaysia has directly selected 25 Bangladeshi recruiting agencies and authorized 312 others to act as associate agencies. These agencies were screened by a high-level Malaysian joint committee involving law enforcement and anti-corruption officials.

Separately, recruitment associations from Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Pakistan have called on the Malaysian government to ensure fair and non-discriminatory access to the Foreign Worker Centralised Management System (FWCMS). The associations expressed concerns regarding the current framework, which restricts recruitment to a limited number of registered agencies, arguing that such arrangements could impact fair competition and the rights of migrant workers.