LABOUR FREEZE: Two Bangladeshi workers at a construction site in Mont Kiara recently. The government has decided to freeze the intake of Bangladeshi workers Pic: Gan Jin Liang

KUALA LUMPUR: The door has been permanently shut on any more Bangladeshi workers for the country.

The freeze on the intake of workers from the South Asian nation, in place since 2007, was expected to be discussed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Port of Spain recently.

However, Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam put an end to the speculation yesterday. He told The Malay Mail the government was no longer deliberating the matter, nor was it rethinking the freeze.

Speaking at the Parliament lobby, Dr Subramaniam said it was "no go" for any new intake of Bangladeshi workers.

This, he said, was to open up more employment opportunities for locals in the agriculture sector.

"I understand the prime minister (Datuk Seri Najib Razak) is fixed on not lifting the freeze on the intake of Bangladeshi workers. There is nothing to speculate now," he added.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed requested Najib to review the freeze decision when they met during CHOGM last week.

Najib later told Malaysian journalists he explained to Sheikh Hasina that the government decided on the freeze to prevent unscrupulous agents from exploiting the workers.

The Cabinet in March this year cancelled work permits granted to 55,000 Bangladeshi workers, who have not yet arrived in Malaysia, citing fears of layoffs amid the global recession.

The freeze on the intake of Bangladeshi workers in October 2007 was the second, after the 1999 freeze that was later lifted.

The rejection of Dhaka's request to lift the freeze will come as a shock to agents and licensed recruitment agencies that were anticipating a reversal, albeit with some modifications.

The recruitment of Bangladeshi workers for Malaysia is said to be the most profitable for manpower agents, compared with the recruitment of workers from other countries.

Over the years, before the 2007 freeze, numerous agents, including fly-by-night operators, were estimated to have raked in millions of ringgit by exploiting the workers.

Tenaganita director Dr Irene Fernandez said on Monday the exploitation of Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia was the fault of the 277 Malaysian outsourcing companies, which she said were only making profit.

In many cases, the workers sold their property back home or borrowed from money lenders to raise up to RM12,000 to pay agents for jobs in Malaysia. And upon arrival, they did not get the jobs nor the salaries promised by the agents, Irene said.

Bangladeshis form a huge foreign labour force in Malaysia. Unofficial figures for this year estimate the Bangladeshi workforce in the country at 500,000, roughly one-sixth of all the foreign workers, including legitimate ones and those who arrive and work illegally in the country.

READ MORE: Najib: Freeze on Bangladeshi workers intake stays