Crackdown on syndicates underway to restore Malaysia job market: Minister
Bangladesh’s manpower market in Malaysia has remained closed since 2024.
Expatriates' Welfare Minister Ariful Haque Choudhury has pledged to launch a strict crackdown on controversial recruitment syndicates in an effort to reopen the frozen Malaysian labour market shortly.
"Our jihad is against the syndicate," he said today (18 May) after a meeting in Dhaka with visiting Qatari Labour Minister Ali bin Samikh Al Marri.
When asked when the Malaysian market would reopen, Ariful said, "It will happen very quickly."
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Bangladesh's manpower market in Malaysia has remained closed since 2024.
The Malaysian government had announced that Bangladeshi workers with prior approval had to enter the country by 31 May 2024.
After that deadline, no more workers have been able to go to the country.
"Following this, repeated attempts were made to reopen the market during the tenure of the previous interim government, but in vain. Initiatives were taken to do so after the BNP government was formed in February this year."
In April, Minister Ariful and Prime Minister's Adviser Mahdi Amin visited Malaysia to discuss the matter.
The Malaysian government allowed only 100 Bangladeshi recruiting agencies to send workers under a widely criticised syndicate system following a bilateral memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in late 2021.
