Malaysian overseas employment market uncertain yet again
The JWG meeting was suspended due to political turmoil in Malaysia
Bangladesh and Malaysia have suspended their Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting which was scheduled to take place in Dhaka on Wednesday.
The sudden suspension has yet again raised uncertainty regarding the recruitment of Bangladeshi manpower in Malaysia.
"The meeting was suspended due to political turmoil in Malaysia. The long awaited opening of the Malaysian employment market will witness further delay," said Monir Hossain Chowdhury, deputy secretary of the expatriate welfare and overseas employment ministry.
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In 2016, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding, in which Malaysia agreed to recruit workers from Bangladesh under the "Government-to-Government Plus" system, also known as the G2G Plus.
After continuation of the process for more than two years, the Malaysian government stopped issuing visas to Bangladeshi workers from September 2018, after the G2G Plus system was cancelled.
On August 14, 2018, the Malaysian government decided to establish a single system for hiring all foreign workers, including those from Bangladesh.
More than 500,000 Bangladeshi nationals work in Malaysia in different sectors, according to government data.
