Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim after a bilateral meeting in Dhaka on Friday announced that they had agreed to consider issuing 18,000 work visas for those Bangladeshis who got stuck and could not fly due to some recent measures by the Malaysia government.
Expressing his full support for Bangladesh鈥檚 interim government in a joint press appearance at a city hotel, Anwar Ibrahim said that he trusted the leadership and dedication of professor Muhammad Yunus, who took over as the chief adviser on August 8 after the fall of the autocratic regime of Sheikh Hasina amid a student-led mass uprising on August 5.聽
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus said that Bangladesh sought Malaysia鈥檚 support in resolving the Rohingya crisis, which, he said, was not a Bangladesh鈥檚 problem only but for others in the region also while discussing issues of bilateral interests鈥攎ainly political, trade and investment.聽聽聽
鈥榃e need workers but they can鈥檛 be treated as modern slaves鈥攏o matter if they are from Bangladesh or other countries. I said this publicly in the past like now,鈥� said the Malaysian prime minister, who arrived in Dhaka in the afternoon on a short visit.
Responding to a question whether they would take steps to dismantle syndicate in the sector, he said that they would ensure transparency in the whole system as his government鈥檚 focus was on 鈥榓nti-corruption and economic fundamentals鈥�.聽聽
Anwar Ibrahim also reminded Bangladesh about actions against criminal charges, saying that whenever they took actions against criminals either they were Malaysians or foreigners in Malaysia there were backlashes.
He expressed hope that they would now be able to improve the situation by ensuring transparency in the whole system.聽
Around 50,000 Bangladeshi aspirants failed to migrate to Malaysia after completing almost all the processes by the May 31 deadline set by the Malaysian authorities. Of them16,970 aspirant migrants failed to fly to Malaysia at the last moment for want of air tickets only.
Around 8,00,000 Bangladeshis are now working in Malaysia, according to officials.
Welcoming the Malaysian prime minister as the first state guest Dhaka received after the interim government has assumed power, chief adviser Muhammad Yunus said that it was a new Bangladesh after the mass uprising and the interim government was committed to building an inclusive and just Bangladesh.聽
He sought Malaysia鈥檚 support for Bangladesh so that the country could become a sectoral dialogue partner of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
鈥榃e congratulate Malaysia鈥檚 chairmanship of ASEAN in 2025. We discussed the issue of Bangladesh鈥檚 inclusion as a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN. We look forward to Malaysia鈥檚 active role for Bangladesh鈥檚 inclusion in the regional forum,鈥� Yunus said.聽
He said that they also discussed the safe repatriation of Rohingyas to their homeland Myanmar from Bangladesh hosting around 12 forcibly displaced people from the Rakhine State.
Mentioning that the Rohingya community sheltered in camps had around 32,000 new births yearly, the chief adviser said, 鈥業t is not the number we are concerned about, it is about what happens to their new generation growing here. They have no future. It is a ticking time bomb鈥�. He added that the solution was not in Bangladesh鈥檚 hands, but in the hands of the international community.聽
Yunus said that he had requested Anwar Ibrahim to pursue the Rohingya issue in the ASEAN to resolve the protracted crisis.
He also underlined the need for signing a free trade agreement between the two countries while referring to the fourth joint commission meeting to be held early next year.
Yunus said that they had also discussed the possibility of sending more workers and professionals from Bangladesh to Malaysia with multiple-entry visas.
The bilateral talks further discussed exploring cooperation possibilities in agriculture, energy, connectivity, blue economy, science and innovations, and defence.
Malaysia is going to be the next chair of ASEAN from January 2025.
Muhammad Yunus and Anwar Ibrahim had a brief one-on-one meeting on his arrival at the Hazrat Shahjalal聽International聽Airport.
Advisers to the interim government and officials concerned also accompanied the chief adviser in the bilateral meeting.
The Malaysian prime minister, who led a 58-member delegation during the visit, left Dhaka at 7:00pm.
In August 2022, Malaysia reopened the market after keeping it suspended for more than four years over corruption allegations.
It closed the market on May 31 again for the same reason, sector insiders said.
They said that many other aspirants in Bangladesh deposited their money, passports and other papers but saw their process remain incomplete when the deadline expired.
There were also allegations that a syndicate of recruiting agencies charged aspirant workers much higher than the government fixed migration costs.
Aspirant migrants alleged that recruiting agencies took Tk 5鈥�7 lakh from each, while the government set Tk 78,990 as the migration cost for Malaysia.
Recruiting agents and migrants on the other hand complained that with the May 31 deadline airlines had charged Tk 1.5 lakh for a ticket when their regular price was around Tk 30,000.