Around 3,000 Bangladeshi workers staying in Malaysia without valid documents have returned home since the beginning of November in the wake of Kuala Lumpur’s threat of a crackdown on illegal foreign work-

ers.

The Bangladesh Embassy in Malaysia issued 1,800 travel passes during this period for those Bangladeshi workers who lost passports or stayed in the country even after expiry of their visa, reports

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received in Dhaka said.

The embassy issued the travel passes on the directive of the Bangladesh government so that the Bangladeshi workers did not face any difficulties in returning home.

Approximately the 'same number' of Bangladeshis came back home from Malaysia without seeking travel passes from the embassy, sources in the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment said.

Kuala Lumpur had earlier declared a general amnesty to over one million illegal foreign workers and asked them to leave the country by November 15.

The Malaysian authorities said they would not seek any explanations from, or impose any penalties upon, illegal workers if they left the country within the deadline.

Later, the deadline was extended till December 15.

Dhaka wants the early return of the Bangladeshi workers staying in Malaysia illegally so that fresh recruitment can start under an agreement with Kuala Lumpur in October last year, sources in the ministry toldThe Daily Star.

Malaysia is yet to start fresh recruitment of manpower from

Bangladesh or any other countries with which it signed the agreement It will start the process after deporting all illegal workers, they pointed out.

"We hope the Malaysian labour market will be open to Bangladeshi workers from the beginning of next year," one source said.

The expatriate welfare ministry however said some autonomous states in Malaysia continued to recruit of workers from Bangladesh.

This month 30 workers got permission to work in a state in Malaysia that enjoys some sort of autonomy. The ministry received demands for another 580 workers recently and found to be genuine.

Around 1.13 lakh Bangladeshis arc now working in Malaysia with valid documents. Job tenure of the workers has been extended to September2007.

When contacted, State Minister for Expatriate Welfare Mohammad Quamrul Islam admitted that the illegal workers from Malaysia have returned.

He said illegal workers should come back home to create scope for legal workers. Moreover, the workers who have returned would still have a chance of returning to Malaysia if their employers requested.