Dhaka-KL MoU ‘not affected’ by suspension of recruitment

The Malaysian government’s decision to freeze recruitment of foreign workers from all source countries, including Bangladesh, will not affect the validity of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Malaysian and Bangladesh governments, said the countries human resource minister Richard Riot.
He, however, said that his ministry welcomed the statement by Malaysian deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on the intake freeze as it was a positive move, according to report of Bernama, Malaysian national news agency.
‘It clearly reflects the government’s priority in providing employment opportunities for local workers. Further details on the decision to freeze foreign workers recruitment will be announced by the government,’ he said in a statement on Saturday.
On Thursday, Riot and Bangladesh Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Nurul Islam signed the MoU in Dhaka that provides for Malaysia to recruit Bangladeshi workers in stages over the next five years and it would be subject to a review after that period.
The G-to-G (government-to-government) MoU was also stricter as potential Bangladeshi workers would be vetted for criminal activities and subjected to health screening before they were permitted to enter and work in Malaysia.
ON Friday Ahmad Zahid announced that the government had put on hold recruitment of all foreign workers, including those from Bangladesh, to enable the government to review the revised two-category levy on foreign workers and also focus on the foreign worker rehiring programme.
When asked, acting secretary to the expatriate welfare and overseas employment ministry Begum Shamsun Nahar told New Age on Saturday that Malaysian government has not yet informed anything ‘officially’ to the Bangladesh government about their recent suspension of foreign workers recruitment.
‘The MoU which was signed between Dhaka and KL on Thursday still remains valid as they (Malaysian government) have not informed us about it,’ she said.
Shamsun Nahar said preparatory works to materialise the MoU would continue.

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