Malaysia is one of Asia's biggest employers of foreign labour. But recently, cases of deaths, abuse and forced labour have come to light. What is going on? Who is protecting these migrant workers?
Talking to UNB, Malaysian
High Commissioner Dato’ Abdul Malek Bin Abdul Aziz said the workers would be recruited
through private recruiting agencies before the June-July harvesting season. He
said the Malaysian government has already approved the import of 150,000 workers
from Bangladesh who will be employed in different sectors. Already 40,000 have
left for Kuala Lumpur and 31,000 are under the process of calling visa.
<P>More
than 300,000 Bangladeshi workers are now working in the newly industrialized country.</P><P>The
High Commissioner said although the remittances sent by the Bangladeshi workers
dropped last year, the amount would increase this year with the fresh recruitment.</P><P>The
remittances amounted to $ 25.5 million in 2005, but the amount came down to $
19.05 million last year.</P><P>Abdul Malek Bin Abdul Aziz said apart from semi-skilled
workers, Malaysian companies require high-skilled manpower, particularly IT experts.</P><P>In
reply to a question, he said a total of 396 students of Bangladesh have received
scholarships for higher studies in Kuala Lumpur under the Malaysian Technical
Cooperation Programme.</P><P><I>Source: http://nation.ittefaq.com/artman/publish/article_34934.shtml</I>
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