Thousands without tickets throng airport to go to Malaysia

Habibur Rahman has come all the way from Natore. He has been waiting at Hazrat Shah Jalal International Airport for the last three days in order to go to Malaysia. Till Friday morning Habibur still hadn't received his airline ticket. The company to whom he paid Tk 650,000 to go to Malaysia, is now not answering the phone.

In the afternoon, Habibur was still in front of the airport's Terminal-1 waiting for a phone call from the company.

He told Prothom Alo, he mortgaged his land and took a bank loan to pay the company Tk 650,000. The company people brought him to the airport three days ago, saying they would send him to Malaysia. Now they are not answering the phone. He sent his people to the company office and they told him to wait.

Habibur Rahman said that he had been involved in agricultural work, struggling to run his family. He decided to take a loan and mortgage his land to go abroad so earn a better living for the family. He said, "If I can't go abroad, how will I run the family, now will I repay the loan?"

Habibur is not the only one. Thousands of people throng the airport today, Friday. They say that Malaysia won't take workers from Bangladesh after today. If they can't go today, they will not be able to go to Malaysia. They have spent a lot of money. If they fail to go, there will be no end to their distress.

The Malaysian labour market which was closed for four years due to the formation of syndicates and irregularities in sending the workers, reopened for Bangladeshis in 2022. A syndicate was formed yet again. In that context, last March Malaysia said that the country will not take workers for the time being. Those who had the approval and visas would have to enter Malaysia by 31 May (today, Friday).

But in the meantime, many people have paid recruiting agencies money and fallen into deep trouble. With no time in hand, they desperately have turned up at the airport in crowds, even without any ticket.

Rubel Miah of Narsingdi is one such person. He wants to go to Malaysia as a construction worker. He paid a recruiting agency, Ahad Enterprise, Tk 600,000 for the purpose. He has been waiting with a brother of his at the airport in Dhaka for two days.

Rubel Miah told Prothom Alo, "I haven't got the airline ticket yet. When I call then over phone, the company people say that they will make arrangements. I have been waiting here for two days based on their words."

Prothom Alo spoke to at least 10 more people other than Habib and Rubel, who have turned up at the airport to go to Malaysia. They have appealed to the government to extend the deadline to go to Malaysia. They said, they have paid from Tk 500,000 to Tk 600,000 to various agencies. They will be in big trouble if they can't go. They are even apprehensive of whether the companies will even return their money.

When the airport executive director Kamrul Islam was asked about the crowds of passengers waiting to go to Malaysia, he said for the past two days there has been huge pressure of passengers for Malaysia. Arrangements are being made for extra flights other than the regular ones, in order to tackle the pressure.