Developing Bangladesh-Malaysia relations

Malaysian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Nur Ashikin Mohd. Taib said Bangladesh and Malaysia are enjoying longstanding bilateral relations which are continuing to grow as the years are passing.  She said her posting in Bangladesh is somewhat  challenging and finds many possibilities to boost the ties even stronger between the two countries. She was talking to this  correspondent in her office recently where she expressed her feelings about Bangladesh and gave her opinions on many sectors where the two countries are working together. The interview was taken by Ivan Gomez on behalf of The Asian Age


Asian Age (AA): Could you please tell us something about the present bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Malaysia?  Nur: Bangladesh and Malaysia are having a wonderful bond since long. In fact the relationship is growing day by day. As we all know there are many similarities in between our two countries in terms of religion, food, culture and lifestyle and I am happy to be here in a mission to take the relations to a higher level. You see, before this posting, I was the head of mission in Belgium where I did not have much to do.

What happens in an EU country is, they are always busy among themselves to promote their own regional activities and cooperation; where there is very little access for other countries to interfere or propose any new thing. Even arrangement of a meeting in the ministerial level gets so tough in those countries. At the same time there are certain things that are already established and maintained constantly, you really don't find much to do on top. That's why I did not enjoy my posting in there much.

But I am glad to be here as I find there are so many scopes to tap here in trade, economy, tourism and cultural activities. Malaysia being a small country with a population of only 28 million, always reaches out to foreign countries to develop and grow together with bilateral cooperation. We have 110 diplomatic missions all around the world, working with special policies that encourage foreign countries to come and invest in Malaysia, improve trade situation and attract more tourists to visit Malaysia. At the same time we emphasis on development among the ASEAN countries on the basis of regional cooperation on separate foreign policies and agreements.

We believe it is very important to keep peace and stability within this territory for all the member countries to get benefit from it. Unfortunately Bangladesh is not a part of that alliance. But Bangladesh is always a friendly country to Malaysia and the governments of the two countries are working on improving the relations, keeping alive the existing good friendship.

AA: Would you please tell us about the trade situation at this moment? Nur: There is still a huge gap in trade volume between Bangladesh and Malaysia but attempts are always there to narrow up the gap from your side. Right now there are many products Malaysia is taking from Bangladesh like Frozen Food, Agree-products, Tea, Leather, Raw Jute, Jute Goods, Knitwear, Woven Garments and others. Your government is trying to regain the lost market of jute and diversifying the use of jute, so there can be new promotion for these products in Malaysian market at this moment. Also your ceramic products are very attractive for our people in Malaysia.

I would like to work more on diversifying trade and economy sectors between Bangladesh and Malaysia, for example the ICT sector could be a field where we can work together for a fast development. Malaysia has achieved the digitalization age long time back where as Bangladesh is still working on to reach the goal in 2021. The endeavor is a not easy and very costly but we would like to come into cooperation for Bangladesh in the sector as well. Digitalization always helps to establish good governess, improve efficiency of workers and reduce corruption. We also had to take consultancy from outer world in the beginning and slowly we learnt from our mistakes and now we are ready to help others.

Bangladesh has a good export base in EU countries, Turkey and the US. I am glad to see your economy growing so strong day by day. What you need is to expand your export in a more diversified way with new and innovative products and before that a good policy and promotional activities will be needed to expect a good result.  
 
AA: Bangladesh is trying to get back the long lost job market in Malaysia. Could you please tell us where are we standing on the issue at his moment? Nur: As you know Malaysia is still in need of taking Bangladeshi laborers to work in plantation, construction and manufacturing sectors. A MoU was signed to start hiring workers from Bangladesh on G2G plus basis in February last year but the contract was terminated the next day for there was a problem with the undocumented foreign workers still existing in Malaysia at that time.

But that situation is over and we are rehiring workers from Bangladesh now. New features have been introduced like biometric registration and online application etc. Already a few batches of workers have been deployed and in an average, 200 work visas are issued everyday from our high commission. We are expecting the number to go up in the coming days. Also some unwanted issues created in between which has made more delay in the process. You know there are some Bangladeshis staying in Malaysia who are always trying to interfere in the system and to influence in the manpower recruiting business.

I cannot really say exactly where the problem occurred but I think everything is clear and we are back on track again in recruitment procedure. Our Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot Anak Jaem came for a visit in November last year and things are pretty much sorted out. The fact is, our industries need your people and we are ready to take them for our plantation, the factories and other sectors immediately. I am trying my best to put things together and smoothen the recruitment process.

AA: We understand Malaysia is a tourist friendly country and a big portion of national revenue comes from tourism. People are coming from all corner of the globe to visit Malaysia. You have special mission to encourage more Bangladeshis to travel to Malaysia. Why Bangladesh is important for Malaysia to have more tourists from?

Nur: First of all the population. Bangladesh has a huge population and we understand 20% of this people have disposable amount of money to go overseas to have a vacation, medical treatment or studies. A good number of Bangladeshis are visiting Malaysia already every year. For your information, we receive 500 tourist visa applications a day in average and before long holidays like the two Eids, the number goes up to 2000. This year we are little concerned about the number of Bangladeshi visitors in Malaysia as comparing to the year 2014, when 200 thousands Bangladeshis visited Malaysia, in 2015 and 2016 the figure came down for lack of promotional activities and we are working to increase the number in the current year. We received 26.8 million tourists from all over the world in 2016 and the figure is going higher. We want Bangladeshi contribution also to be added up to the flow as well.

Not many people from Bangladesh know that there are more than 30 tourists sites that are been popularly visited by travelers from all over the world throughout the year. Other than  Petronas Twin Towers and Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur, there are many places in Malaysia left out to be explored by Bangladeshis. It is time for tourism authority in Malaysia and tour operators in Bangladesh to introduce Malaysia's other best-known holiday destinations as well to Bangladeshis who are planning to visit Malaysian in the coming days.

I would like to mention here that Malaysia is a place where halal tourism is practiced in a true way. The country itself being a muslim oriented country, muslim tourists from other Islamic countries feel comfortable and have no worries with the food they are to take, find a mosque to warship or transaction of currency as Islamic financing system is available there. The followers of other religion can find churches, Hindu and Buddhist temples everywhere in Malaysia when it's time to pray.

AA: How long have you been here and what's your idea about the people of Bangladesh? Nur: It's about one and a half years we are here and I feel myself at home already. Like I said there are many similarities in our two countries and we are very much comfortable with the local people. They are hospitable, friendly and very respectful. I love the food over here.

Only we have to be a little careful about getting sick from food poisoning. So far I have visited the Sundarbans with my family members and some staff, which was a wonderful experience. We spent three nights on boat in the river and enjoyed the calm night, clear sky and the bright stars all in a new perception. I will invite my fellow countrymen to come and visit Bangladesh especially in the winter.