KUALA LUMPUR: With the May 31 deadline for employers to bring foreign workers into Malaysia, over 30,000 Bangladeshi workers approved to travel here will not make it in time.
According to Bangladeshi news portal Kaler Kantho, data from the Bangladesh Manpower Employment and Training Bureau (BMET), under the Expatriate Welfare Ministry, reveals that the last green light for workers to travel to Malaysia was granted on May 21.
The report said that although approvals ceased after this date, additional clearance was granted for another 1,112 workers.
As a result, only 1,500 of the approved workers will be able to officially travel to Malaysia on deadline day, cancelling the plans of the remaining 31,701 workers still in Bangladesh.
KL International Airport (KLIA) terminals are facing congestion, with approximately 20,000 workers from 14 countries, including about 5,000 from Bangladesh, stranded within the two terminals awaiting employer identification, said the report.
"Amid concerns of workers being left stranded, attempts to communicate with employers have failed."
One anonymous source told the report: "We never talked about sending workers back. However, due to the excessive crowd, it's challenging to locate them. We need time for this."
To handle the influx of migrant workers, Malaysia's Immigration Department has increased the number of immigration officers on duty, opened additional counters, and provided food and water to the waiting workers.
There have also been complaints regarding agencies selling flight tickets at inflated prices as the market closes.
Malaysia had responded to a letter from the United Nations that stated Bangladeshi workers were being required to pay a significant recruitment fee of between US$4,500 to US$6,000 (RM21,000 to RM28,000) per person, which violates the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between the two countries in 2021 that capped the fee at US$720 (RM3,386).
The letter had highlighted allegations of a criminal network cheating Bangladeshi workers out of gainful employment, and instead fraudulently recruiting them for fake companies.
Abul Bashar, president of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies, said workers were suffering financial losses due to not being able to travel to Malaysia.
The association, he said, had discussed extending the programme for one or two months to allow all workers to travel with the Bangladeshi government.
Expatriate Welfare and Foreign Employment Ministry deputy secretary (employment) Gazi Md Shahed Anwar said a future meeting is scheduled to address the issue, according to the report.
