Bangladeshi workers won’t face any exploitation, discrimination: Malaysia PM assures Momen

Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has guaranteed that Bangladeshi workers there will not face any exploitation or discrimination.

The assurance came when Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen called on him during his visit to Malaysia on July 19-20.

"I met the Malaysian prime minister. He said they urgently need Bangladeshi workers. I said we would send workers, but the condition is that they are not discriminated against or exploited," Moment told reporters at the foreign ministry today.

In response, Yaakob said Malaysia has a law that makes it mandatory for the employers to provide quality accommodation and that there will be no discrimination, he said.

Momen told the Malaysian PM that Bangladesh will send workers to Malaysia in two weeks.

Asked about the syndicate of 25 agents that the Malaysian government has selected for worker recruitment, Momen said Bangladesh sent the list of all agents to Malaysia as Dhaka wants an open and transparent system, but not any syndicate.

However, he said, some people in Malaysia say they cannot manage the worker recruitment process, and they cannot manage them properly.

During his meeting with the Malaysian PM, Momen also raised the issue of extending the work permits of those already working in Malaysia.

"Some of them met me and said they were becoming 'illegal' for not having their work permits renewed," the foreign minister said.

The Malaysian prime minister immediately declared that their work permit would be renewed and asked them to apply for that.

Asked if he had any talks on power import from any alternative sources as there is a power crisis looming large, he said Malaysia and Indonesia want a long-term LNG export agreement with Bangladesh. "Drafts are being exchanged."

Asked if it is imperative now to find alternative sources of fuel, he said he was not in a position to respond to it, but he thinks Bangladesh should not be dependent only on traditional fuel suppliers but look beyond that.

Momen said Bangladesh needs to improve relations with the regional countries since many of the countries Bangladesh paid much attention to have not helped it when in need.