Bangladesh High Commissioner to Malaysia Md Golam Sarwar has called for ensuring transparency in the recruitment process of workers from Bangladesh to Malaysia.

The Bangladesh envoy made the call during a meeting with Malaysia's Human Resources Minister V Sivakumar Naidu in Putrajaya on Wednesday.

They discussed in detail various aspects of bilateral relations between the two countries, recruitment of new workers, legalisation of undocumented workers, and issues related to the interests of expatriate Bangladeshis.

The high commissioner presented possible steps, in the form of a proposal, to the Malaysian minister to further accelerate the recruitment of Bangladeshi manpower in Malaysia, ensure transparency in the current recruitment process and recruit more workers at a lower cost.

He urged the two countries to hold a meeting of the Joint Working Group to take a decision on the proposals at the earliest.

In addition, the high commissioner of Bangladesh thanked the Malaysian government for allowing the human resources minister to legalise the undocumented Bangladeshi workers under the Recalibration Plan for Illegal Immigrants (PATI).

Golam Sarwar said necessary advice and assistance are being provided to the Bangladeshi workers to become legal. To avoid fraud, they have been advised to reach out to the appropriate company.

The high commissioner previously requested the Malaysian minister to take necessary actions against the fraudsters to prevent such incidents of fraud during the legal procedure.

Sivakumar Naidu promised to provide all kinds of cooperation to Bangladesh, one of the largest source countries for recruiting foreign workers in Malaysia.

He also promised to hold a meeting in March considering the importance of the joint working group meeting.

Deputy High Commissioner of Bangladesh Mohammad Khorshed A Khastagir, Defence Adviser Commodore Md Hasan Tarique Mondal, Minister (Labour) Nazmus Sadat Salim, Counsellor (Political wing) Farhana Ahmed Chowdhury, First Secretary (Labour) ASM Zahidur Rahman, Second Secretary (Labour) Sumon Chandra Das and officials of the Ministry of Human Resources of Malaysia were present.

[The author is an expatriate Bangladeshi journalist living in Malaysia]