Bangladeshi workers will arrive in February

Bangladesh's Financial Express reported, the registration for overseas jobs in Malaysia would begin at the end of next month, via the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training website.

The selected job seekers' orientation course and medical test will take place at 13 technical training centres at different places in the country.

"Upon completion of selection procedures, we will make a clean database of the selected job seekers, for handing over to the human resources ministry of Malaysia to choose candidates from the list," Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain was quoted as saying in the report.

The migration cost will be Tk40,000 (RM1,440) each for the purposes of skills test, 10 days' pre-departure training, medical test, air fair, welfare fees and other related expenditures.

Each worker will get minimum wages at Tk25,000 (RM900) per month, and their accomodation and meal will be provided by the employers, said the report.

The workers would enjoy weekend and the working hours would be eight daily, said Hossain.

"The employers will bear the return air fare of workers".

Initially, Malaysia would hire labourers for its plantation sector where it needs nearly 30,000 labourers to meet the immediate demand, he said.

Malaysia is in immediate need of workers for the plantation, construction, agriculture, manufacturing and service sectors. It will recruit labourers from Bangladesh for all the five categories.

Hossain said Malaysia would recruit the workers for five years in three phases -- first for two years, second for two years and third for a year.

The authorities have cautioned job seekers not to deal with 'middlemen', handing over money to them for the purpose of migration to Malaysia.

Earlier, some dishonest manpower agents had sent a large number of workers to Malaysia with fake visas. Following malpractice by recruiting agencies, Malaysia stopped hiring labourers from Bangladesh in 2009.