Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Ariful Haque Chowdhury said on Thursday he hopes the first two or three flights carrying Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia at no cost to them will operate in December, according to BSS.

“December is the month of victory,” the minister said, adding that the ministry wants to start the scheme then, while sending other workers through other demand letters at the same time. He was speaking at a meeting with representatives of recruiting agencies registered with Malaysia’s Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS) at Probashi Kallyan Bhaban in Eskaton, Dhaka.

Under the new system, workers will not have to pay to go abroad. The foreign employers or their recruiting agencies will bear the costs, the minister said, and some service charges for Bangladeshi recruiting agencies have been waived to make recruitment easier.

The minister said he did not want the Malaysian business to stay with a handful of agencies, and that the ministry is working to give all licensed agencies a chance to take part. He said he hopes a new memorandum of understanding with Malaysia will be signed by December 31.

He said employers’ demand letters must be submitted online for transparency and attested by the human resources ministry of the country concerned. The recruiting agency must also give the ministry a written undertaking that the employers will provide the workers with jobs.

The minister also said the government plans to set up separate cells in destination countries to help solve workers’ problems after they arrive, and that steps are under way to see that workers in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and other countries get the services they need and are not harassed. 

On medical tests, he said the fee for workers going to Malaysia has been fixed at 8,000 taka, and nothing more can be charged.

Speaking to the agency owners, the minister said the sector must be brought to a respectable position and that everyone should stay alert so that irregularities by a few do not harm the whole sector. He urged them to think about jobs for the country’s people and the growth of remittances as well as business.

State Minister Md Nurul Hoque and Gazipur-5 lawmaker AKM Fazlul Haque Milon were among those present, among others.