‘Nothing left for me’ as thousands of Bangladeshi workers lose everything in failed bid to work in Malaysia

Syndicates send thousands of Bangladeshis to Malaysia for fake jobs, labour advocates say, forcing them into illegal overstay as they seek new jobs to pay debts

Bangladesh’s low-skilled migrant workers remitted nearly US$2 billion in April with Malaysia, the sixth-highest source of remittance

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Prospective migrants and their families gather outside Dhaka airport last Friday, awaiting updates about their tickets. Photo: Redwan Ahmed

Published: 6:30pm, 3 Jun 2024Updated: 8:45pm, 6 Jun 2024

The motorbike courier carrying Saiful’s ticket to the future screeched to a halt outside Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal airport just an hour before his flight to Kuala Lumpur was due to take off.

Saiful, 30, was among several thousand anxious Bangladeshis who crammed into the airport on Friday, desperate to make it to Malaysia but up against a midnight deadline for entry that was instituted to end a criminal jobs market which has duped tens of thousands of poor migrant workers.

As the clock ticked, fine margins decided who would travel and become a “remittance warrior” – as Bangladesh’s overseas workers are known – and who would be left at home.

Clutching his few possessions and necessary documents, Saiful and his family hurried to the departure hall.

“We are immensely relieved … Thanks to Allah, we secured his ticket at the last minute,” Saiful’s father told This Week In Asia, his voice thick with emotion as he embraced his son in a tearful, tight hug.

Workers from Bangladesh work with timber and furniture in a Malaysia factory. Photo: Shutterstock

Saiful’s family paid nearly US$1,000, triple the standard airfare to Malaysia. They hope Saiful will find work in Malaysia’s migrant-labour dependent construction sector, with a promised monthly salary of 1,500 ringgit (US$320) – comparable to an entry-level white-collar job in Bangladesh.

‘Nothing left for me’ as thousands of Bangladeshi workers lose everything in failed bid to work in Malaysia

Syndicates send thousands of Bangladeshis to Malaysia for fake jobs, labour advocates say, forcing them into illegal overstay as they seek new jobs to pay debts Bangladesh’s low-skilled migrant workers remitted nearly US$2 billion in April with Malaysia, the sixth-highest source of remittance

Syndicates send thousands of Bangladeshis to Malaysia for fake jobs, labour advocates say, forcing them into illegal overstay as they seek new jobs to pay debts

Bangladesh’s low-skilled migrant workers remitted nearly US$2 billion in April with Malaysia, the sixth-highest source of remittance