KUALA LUMPUR: Bangladeshi workers should be allowed into the country to address the shortage of workers in crucial sectors, says the National Association of Private Employment Agencies Malaysia (Papsma), in a call to Putrajaya.

       “The manpower shortage is considered to have exceeded two million foreign workers in main sectors that are not of interest to the local workforce, such as manufacturing, construction and 3D sectors,” Papsma president Datuk Megat Fairouz Junaidi Megat Junid said, referring to dangerous, difficult and dirty.

       “Many industries, especially plantations and SMEs, are facing a shortage of at least two million workers at present,” he said yesterday.

       The Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA) had in February this year said Malaysia would suffer up to RM1bil in losses because palm oil could not be harvested on time due to the lack of foreign workers, who had returned to their countries.

       “As such, Papsma is seeking the cooperation of the Cabinet Committee on Foreign Workers, which is expected to meet soon, to approve the entry of foreign workers from Bangladesh through policies laid down by the Malaysian government.“The opportunity to bring in these workers should include all members of Baira and not merely just a few members, as what has been rumoured in our country,” Bernama reported Megat as saying.

       Baira is the acronym for the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agents.