KUALA LUMPUR (July 11): Bangladesh expects to reach an agreement with Malaysia on a new recruitment mechanism for Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia next month after the current Malaysian Government suspended the previous hiring system for workers from the South Asian country last year due to alleged elements of corruptions and flaws.

Bangladesh's Minister of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, Imran Ahmad, said Dhaka and Putrajaya are working on the matter to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

“I met with Malaysia's Human Resource Ministry and the Home Ministry. It is a matter of time to make this system alright.

“The old system is not working; so for the new system, we are getting everybody to involve and work on it. I think in August, some solution might come out,” he told Bernama International News Service and Bernama News Channel (BNC) at the one-day ‘Showcase Bangladesh: Go Global’ trade exhibition and conference, here, today.

Imran, who is in Kuala Lumpur for a three-day working visit, also assured that the new mechanism and process for the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers for employment in Malaysia will be a transparent one.

He said this includes selecting the right manpower and skill for the relevant industries and to keep the recruitment cost affordable, adding that the Bangladeshi government is monitoring the process to ensure that it will not violate any laws.

“Our Government will not allow the cost of migration to go up. This is also the main thing why the present (Malaysian) Government stop the (previous) system because the cost has gone beyond reach,” he said.

In September last year, Putrajaya suspended the Foreign Worker Application System (SPPA) for Bangladeshi workers, which only allowed the recruitment process to be carried out by 10 selected agencies approved by the previous Government.

The previous system saw Bangladeshi workers apparently having had to fork out up to RM20,000 processing fee per person to agents to facilitate work permit approvals and other arrangements to work in Malaysia.

Imran estimated that some 400,000 Bangladeshi workers are currently working legally in Malaysia.