Malaysia denies BD's 2 lac worker recruitment claim

Malaysian Communications Minister and government spokesperson Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil said the claim made by Bangladesh’s State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Mir Shahe Alam did not represent an official position of the Bangladeshi government

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia has distanced itself from a claim that it plans to recruit around 200,000 Bangladeshi workers over the next six months, saying no such decision has been officially confirmed by the Malaysian government.

Malaysian Communications Minister and government spokesperson Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil said the claim made by Bangladesh’s State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Mir Shahe Alam did not represent an official position of the Bangladeshi government, according to Malaysian media reports.

Fahmi said he had contacted Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri R Ramanan over the issue and was told that the statement had been made by a junior Bangladeshi minister and should not be regarded as an official government announcement.

The clarification effectively puts a question mark over reports that Malaysia was preparing to bring in a fresh wave of Bangladeshi workers, potentially reopening a labour corridor that has remained largely restricted since 2024.

Recruitment plan remains unconfirmed

Shahe Alam was reported to have said that Malaysia would recruit approximately 200,000 Bangladeshi workers over the next six months, with the recruitment to be carried out in phases through companies approved by Malaysian authorities.

The process was reportedly expected to begin toward the end of September and continue for six months. Some reports also quoted the minister as saying that 10,000 workers would be recruited without migration costs.

However, Malaysia’s Human Resources Minister has separately indicated that the country’s intake of foreign workers will continue to be determined by the needs of individual industries. He has also questioned the logic of bringing in 200,000 workers within such a short period. 

As a result, the reported figure should not currently be treated as an agreed Malaysia-Bangladesh recruitment quota.

Dhaka has been pushing hard to reopen the market

The latest development comes after months of diplomatic efforts by Bangladesh to regain access to Malaysia’s labour market.

During his official visit to Malaysia in June, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman urged Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to reopen the country’s labour market to Bangladeshi workers and increase recruitment from Bangladesh.

The issue is economically significant for Bangladesh, where overseas employment and remittances are major sources of foreign exchange. Malaysia has traditionally been one of the most important destinations for Bangladeshi migrant workers.

Earlier in 2026, Bangladesh also signalled that it expected Malaysia’s labour market to reopen, while discussions focused on establishing a more transparent recruitment mechanism.

A troubled history of recruitment

Malaysia suspended or restricted the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers in 2024 following widespread concerns over exploitation, excessive recruitment costs, debt bondage, forced labour and cases in which workers arrived in Malaysia only to discover that the promised jobs did not exist.

The previous recruitment system also came under intense scrutiny over the role of recruitment agencies and the high costs borne by migrant workers.

Between 2022 and May 2024, Malaysia recruited around 450,000 Bangladeshi workers through a system involving 101 selected recruitment agencies, according to reports. Although the government-set migration cost was around Tk79,000, migrants were reportedly paying between Tk5 lakh and Tk6 lakh—or roughly $4,500 to $6,000—for jobs in Malaysia.

The experience has strengthened calls in Bangladesh for a recruitment system that eliminates middlemen, reduces migration costs and provides stronger safeguards against worker exploitation.

Malaysia tightening its foreign-labour policy

The uncertainty over Bangladesh’s proposed recruitment figure also comes at a time when Malaysia is reassessing its dependence on foreign workers.

Malaysia has been seeking to align foreign-worker recruitment more closely with actual industry requirements while encouraging greater participation by domestic workers. Reports earlier this year indicated that the government was considering reducing the foreign-worker share of its workforce to 10% by the end of 2026 and eventually to 5% by 2035

That policy direction makes a sudden intake of 200,000 workers particularly significant and helps explain why Kuala Lumpur has been cautious about endorsing the reported figure.

Zero-cost recruitment under discussion

For Bangladesh, the key issue is not simply how many workers Malaysia will hire, but how they will be recruited.

Bangladesh has been pushing for a transparent, worker-friendly recruitment framework, including the principle of zero-cost migration for workers. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has previously backed the idea of reducing or eliminating recruitment costs for workers, while Bangladesh has sought a system that prevents the syndicates and excessive fees associated with the previous recruitment cycle.

The stakes are high. Thousands of Bangladeshi workers were affected by the previous recruitment crisis, including workers who had completed the recruitment process but were unable to travel before Malaysia’s deadline.

Against this backdrop, the latest Malaysian clarification is significant: there is currently no officially confirmed Malaysian decision to recruit 200,000 Bangladeshi workers over the next six months.

Any large-scale reopening of the Malaysian labour market for Bangladeshis is likely to require a formal government-to-government decision, a clearly defined quota and recruitment framework, and stronger guarantees on costs, transparency and worker protection.