MalayMail-Aug 8
The ongoing political turbulence in Bangladesh has caused ripples worldwide, not least in Malaysia which has significant investments in the country totaling some US$872.30 million. Bilateral trade between both nations reached close to US$4 billion (RM17.9 billion) between July 2022 and July 2023, according to a Bernama report last March. Additionally, there are 386 Malaysian companies registered to do business in Bangladesh. On the flipside, Bangladesh is a major manpower source country for Malaysia, which is heavily reliant on migrant labor to fill hundreds of thousands of vacancies in diverse sectors from plantations, manufacturing, agriculture, mining, and construction to domestic services and food and beverage. Domestically for Malaysia, could the current situation in Bangladesh shake up our economy, and if yes, to what extent? “The current riots in Bangladesh don’t affect Malaysia at all, because the workers who were supposed to come in, have already come in,” Sukumaran Nair, an independent consultant for foreign workers’ affairs, told Malay Mail when contacted. He noted that the bulk of Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia are deployed in the plantation sector, adding that if that sector were affected, the government has alternatives. “The first choice is Indonesia and the second choice is Bangladesh. If we can bring in workers from Indonesia, we have no problem,” he said. For now though, he said Malaysian companies in the plantation sector have nothing to worry about as the “government has already given enough quota” to those in need of field workers. Local think tank National Human Resources Association Malaysia president, Zarina Ismail, shared Sukumaran’s views. “Of course there will be changes, but how far this is going to impact us, I cannot say accurately. “What I understand now is that the government is not bringing in foreign workers except those in the plantation sector. I don’t think we will be badly affected,” she told Malay Mail. Like Sukumaran, Zarina said that should the unrest prolong to the point its external economy is disrupted, the Malaysian government could tap other manpower source countries like Nepal. Read more at: https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2024/08/08/how-does-bangladesh-in-turmoil-affect-malaysia-one-of-its-top-10-trade-partners/146328
