State minister’s ‘200,000 workers’ remark doesn’t represent Bangladesh govt’s official position: Malaysia govt’s spokesperson

A report has appeared in the media quoting Bangladesh’s State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives (LGRD), Mir Shahe Alam, as saying that Malaysia will recruit 200,000 workers from Bangladesh over the next six months.

However, Malaysian government spokesperson and Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil has said the remark does not represent the official position of the Bangladesh government, reports Malaysiakini, a news outlet of Malaysia.

He made the comments at a press conference on Wednesday following a Cabinet meeting in Putrajaya, Malaysia’s administrative capital.

Fahmi Fadzil said Malaysian Human Resources Minister R Ramanan had informed him that the statement had been made by a Bangladeshi state minister and did not constitute an official position of the Bangladesh government, the Malaysiakini report added.

According to Fahmi Fadzil, he had contacted Human Resources Minister Ramanan about the matter. “He said this is not an official statement from the Bangladesh government,” Fahmi said, adding that, as far as he understood, the remark had been made by a state minister and therefore did not represent the official position of the Bangladesh government.

Fahmi was responding to reports published in the media stating that Malaysia would recruit around 200,000 Bangladeshi workers over the next six months, citing State Minister Mir Shahe Alam.

According to the reports, the workers would be recruited in phases through companies approved by the Malaysian authorities, with the process expected to begin at the end of September and be completed within six months.

The Daily Star quoted Shahe Alam as saying, “They (Malaysia) will hire about 200,000 workers. Of them, they will hire 10,000 workers free of cost.”

Malaysian media outlets, citing the report, said Shahe Alam made the remarks following a meeting in Dhaka between Malaysian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Shuhada Othman and Bangladesh’s Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives Minister Abdul Moyeen Khan.