Bangladesh–Malaysia relations

Historically, Portuguese records point to a large number of wealthy Bengali merchants and shipowners residing in the Malacca Sultanate. It is unclear if these merchants were envoys of the Sultan of Bengal.[6] Between 1830 and 1867, Penang was part of the administrative jurisdiction of the Bengal Presidency in the British Empire.[7]

On 24 February 1972, Malaysia, along with its neighbour Indonesia, recognised the independence of Bangladesh, being among the first Muslim countries to do so.[8] In 1999, the Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has visited Bangladesh while in 2000, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited Malaysia.[9] Both visits has opened up new vistas of co-operation and to ensured the continuing export of skilled manpower from Bangladesh to Malaysia.[9]

In 2007, Malaysia has banned the imports of Bangladeshi workers into the country after hundreds of them were stranded at an airport because their employers has failed to collect them promptly.[9] This ended with a demonstration in Kuala Lumpur by Bangladeshi workers demanding payments and better conditions but later resolved by both governments.[9] The Malaysian government also placed a similar restriction in 1999 but lifted the ban in 2007 by approving an initial intake of 300,000 workers.[9] There is also some issue relating to socials with the workers, which has causing a trouble in Malaysia with a number of them have involved in crime mainly on rape and some theft.[10][11][12][13][14][15] Between 2009 and 2012, Malaysia had stopped hiring workers from Bangladesh but there are still many of the labours enter the country illegally.[16] Until 2013, there are around 320,000 Bangladeshis working on many sectors in the country.[17]

In 2014, the Malaysian cabinet decided to open all sectors apart from plantations in the Malaysian economy for Bangladeshi workers to work.[18]

The bilateral relations between the two countries also enhance in the sector of economic. In 2012, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed by both countries for collaboration in the construction of the Padma Bridge which has been consider as the largest bridge in Bangladesh once it finished.[19] Much more, a free trade agreement also has been proposed for both countries to boost the pharmaceutical, garment and tourism sector of Bangladesh, while Malaysia would benefit immensely from future infrastructure projects dished out by the Bangladeshi government.[20] Malaysia also consider as the third largest investment partner in Bangladesh after India and Pakistan with the Malaysian companies invests in the sectors of telecommunications, power generation, textile and financial sectors which worth around MYR558.86 million.[5] Since 2010, all the Bangladesh workers in Malaysia had sent home a total of MYR3 billion, which is the highest compared with other workers from Indonesia (MYR2.9 billion), Nepal (MYR1.9 billion), India (MYR625 million) and the Philippines (MYR561 million).[17] The top 5 exports of Malaysia's products to Bangladesh are such as refined petroleum products, palm oil, chemicals products, iron and steel and electrical and electronics products while the major import of Bangladeshi's are textiles and apparel, refined petroleum products, vegetables, processed food, seafood and also electrical and electronics products.[21]

• Bangladeshis in Malaysia