Mashiur Rahaman

More than a half of the 63,000 Bangladeshi nationals, who entered Malaysia as tourists during January-September, 2009, embraced the status of 'illegal immigrant' as the demand for workers there kept going up, a well-placed immigration official has told the FE.

"The flow of Bangladeshi tourists to Malaysia witnessed a sharp rise, particularly after the Malaysian government's ban on Bangladeshi workers imposed in March 2009," the official said requesting anonymity.

He feared these poor Bangladeshi job seekers might be in deep trouble as neither Malaysian nor Bangladeshi law protects them from any exploitation.

He just expressed his anxiety when his attention was drawn to the data, given by the Malaysian Tourism Promotion Board claiming that the flow of Bangladeshi tourists to Malaysia increased by 22 per cent in the first eight months of the current year from that of the corresponding period of 2008.

Director of the Malaysian tourism promotion board Tourism Malaysia, Manoharan, said his office in Malaysia witnessed a major surge in the number of Bangladeshis entering the country.

Asked whether his office had any mechanism to monitor the tourists, staying illegally there, he simply said, "Tourists are not allowed to work in Malaysia and it's a crime to appoint any illegal immigrant."

"We keep records of all the tourists including their dates of arrival as well as expiry dates of their visas," he said.

Admitting the fact that tourists did overstay and sometimes start working illegally, Mr Manoharan said, "We simply hand over the list of overstaying tourists to the Malaysian immigration department for declaring them illegal immigrants."

These illegal immigrants, whatever country they come from, first face arrest by police, imprisonment and then they are deported.

According to sources at the Zia International Airport, thousands of Bangladeshi nationals fly daily to the Southeast Asian country by 25 available flights operated by local and foreign airliners between Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur.

"We are unable to stop them as long as they carry legal passports, authentic visas from the Malaysian High Commission," a well-placed official at the airport said.

According to data of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, not more than 1,500 Bangladeshis got jobs in Malaysia during January to September, 2009.

"During the last six months, on an average only 25 workers legally migrated to Malaysia per month," a BMET official said. He was just surprised, when he came to know that thousands of Bangladeshis flew to Malaysia every week.

The president of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), Golam Mustaf, admitted to having long been receiving reports about Bangladeshi migrants staying illegally in Malaysia.

"A group of unscrupulous recruiters and brokers both at home and in Malaysia are allegedly involved in this kind of human trafficking," he added.

While talking to the FE, Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman, Joint Secretary General of BAIRA, expressed his concern over the safety and security of the illegal Bangladeshi workers abroad.