This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on September 7, 2026 - September 13, 2026

AFTER two years, Malaysia is reopening its doors to workers from Bangladesh.

However, the umbrella body of the foreign labour recruitment agencies in five South Asian countries are resisting the use of Malaysia’s Foreign Workers Centralized Management System (FWCMS) to manage the registration of the workers coming into this country.

The countries are Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. Among them, the greatest objection is from Nepal and, to some extent, Bangladesh. These two countries are the main suppliers of unskilled foreign labour to Malaysia.

The umbrella body’s main grouse is that the recruitment agencies in the five countries have restricted access to the FWCMS platform. When contacted, the president of the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA), Dil Bahadur Khatri, says only 25 recruitment firms in Nepal can access the platform.

“There are 1,100 recruitment companies in Nepal. Why restrict it to only 25 companies? What is the criteria used by the Malaysia government?” he tells The Edge.

“That was not the case previously, when all registered employment agencies were allowed access to the FWCMS platform,” he adds.

Dil Bahadur claims that some of the 25 firms are not in the business of handling unskilled workers for foreign employment.

He says similar restrictions have been imposed on recruitment firms in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

The FWCMS was developed by Bestinet Sdn Bhd, which received the letter of acceptance for the use of the platform in February 2018 when current Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was the home minister. According to the records of the Public Accounts Committee, Home Ministry officials were told to issue the letter of acceptance to Bestinet by the minister then.

However, an agreement between Bestinet and the government was not firmed up until 2024.

Bestinet was founded by Datuk Seri Aminul Islam Abdul Nor, who is reported to be a subject of interest to the Bangladesh government for alleged wrongdoings related to the foreign employment of unskilled labour when Sheikh Hasina Wazed was prime minister. Sheikh Hasina was ousted in 2024. 

Aminul has denied all the allegations.

The FWCMS is being used by the Home Ministry and Ministry of Human Resources to manage the recruitment and registration of unskilled foreign labour.

A check on the FWCMS website shows only 10 recruitment firms each are listed for India, Pakistan and Myanmar. There is no restriction on recruitment firms from Sri Lanka.

According to reports from Bangladesh, only 25 firms were initially allowed access to the platform. Following complaints, an additional 312 firms were added to the FWCMS list as “associate recruitment agencies” last week.

Dr Zahed Ur Rahman, information and broadcasting adviser to Bangladesh’s prime minister, was reported to have said last week that in addition to the 25 recruiting agencies approved by the Malaysian government, another 312 had been authorised to recruit workers and these firms would act as “associate recruitment agencies”.

“As a result, a total of 338 recruiting agencies, including BOESL (Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Ltd), will now be able to send workers transparently,” he was reported as saying.

According to NAFEA’s Dil Bahadur, the “associate recruitment agencies” have to go through the 25 companies chosen by the Malaysian government to access the platform.

“There is still another layer, which is why we are resisting the way the FWCMS works as a grouping of countries in South Asia.”

He points out that the restrictions do not apply to unskilled foreign labour recruitment firms in Indonesia and the Philippines.

“There are no restrictions on labour recruitment firms from these two countries on the FWCMS website. The restriction seems to only apply in Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Pakistan.”

According to the FWCMS website, there are 744 recruitment companies in Indonesia from which employers can choose to handle their recruitment of workers. A total of 262 agencies is listed for the Philippines.

Dil Bahabur says the recruitment agencies in Nepal will continue to oppose sending workers to Malaysia until there is equal access to the FWCMS for all firms.

“Any arrangement that provides preferential treatment to some firms and excludes the rest gives rise to unfair competition and a monopoly. Finally, the cost will be borne by employers and it gives rise to a syndicate,” he says. 

Malaysia froze the recruitment of foreign labour in mid-2024, following complaints that workers from Bangladesh were being brought in without jobs already secured. Another concern was the security issues posed by the rising number of foreign workers.

The recruitment of foreign workers is tied to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Malaysia and the host countries. The MOU between Malaysia and Bangladesh expires at the end of this year while the agreement with Nepal expired in 2023.

Nevertheless, there have been high-level discussions between Bangladesh and Malaysia to allow about 10,000 workers, who could not come to Malaysia in 2024 despite having paid their fees due to a freeze on new workers, to enter the country.

According to Zahed, some 10,000 workers from Bangladesh are scheduled to come to Malaysia in stages over the next few months. Their fare will be borne by the government, in an effort to make the process cost-free for workers.

See also “Opaque labour recruitment system warrants scrutiny”  

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