SANS Correspondent, Dhaka (September 22): Malaysia has shown its eagerness to hire around 5,000 fishermen from Bangladesh, which the government thinks could be the first step towards reopening door to the Southeast Asian country for the Bangladeshi workers.
"Having received offers from the Malaysian side, our high commissioner in Kuala Lumpur inquired if we could send fishermen," Dr Zafar Ahmed Khan, secretary to the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, told The SANS on Wednesday.
They would be hired for catching fish in the sea, he said. With some training, Bangladeshi fishermen could easily become skilled and professional, the secretary said. "We are now assessing the proposal and hope we can send fishermen to Malaysia," Zafar said.
Referring to Bangladesh's high commissioner in Malaysia, he said their monthly salary would be equivalent to Tk 15,000 and the hiring fishing companies would provide them airfares. The secretary said Malaysia also has demands for workers in the manufacturing and plantation sector. Malaysia imposed a ban on hiring Bangladeshi workers in March last year, citing economic recession and instantly cancelled job visas of 55,000 Bangladeshis.
However, labour migration experts said a lot of malpractices in the recruitment process prompted the Malaysian government to impose the ban. "We hope, the reopening process would start with the hiring of the fishermen," he noted
