Many Bangladeshi workers, including the ones without valid documents, are willing to return home from Malaysia but cannot buy air ticket due to fare hike during the pandemic.
A large number of workers have lost their jobs and even contracts of many of them have expired, said workers and others staying in Malaysia.
Those who are staying without valid documents are facing uncertainty since they have to count extra money to "purchase special pass" to return home.
Many workers told the FE that they are almost empty-handed now as they remained jobless since the outbreak of the coronavirus.
"Now, many of us want to return but we have no money to pay the charge of special pass and air ticket," said Habibur Rahman, an undocumented worker in Malaysia.
Mr Rahman, who used his pseudonym for security reasons, said they could not move freely for a lack of necessary papers. "Returning home is the only choice for us," he said.
An estimated 3,000 workers have returned home from Malaysia between April 01 and August 30, shows data available with the expatriates' welfare desk at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
A staggering 700,000 Bangladeshi workers are in Malaysia. Of them, those having invalid papers for some reasons are more willing to return, local sources said.
The rate of air ticket has more than double and currently the fare for Kuala Lumpur-Dhaka flight is varying between Malaysian ringgit 1,000 and 1,500.
Furthermore, an undocumented worker has to pay 3,000 ringgit for a single special pass.
Abu Haiyat, a Malaysia-based Bangladeshi freelance researcher, talked to many Bangladeshis, especially those who are staying as irregular workers but cannot return home for want of money.
"For cost escalation, it has been really tough for the workers to buy air ticket, especially when they have no earnings for about six months now," he said.
Mr Haiyat suggested Bangladesh request Malaysia to offer amnesty to the undocumented workers and the airlines rationalise their fare.
When asked, Kamrul Islam, general manager (public relations) at US-Bangla Airlines, said airfare has gone up during the Covid-19 pandemic due to a rise in operating costs.
A fall in the number of passengers has also fuelled the hike in the price of air ticket, he pointed out.
Jahirul Islam, labour counsellor at the Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, said they are aware of the airfare hike but not in a position to intervene.
He, however, noted that they are keeping in touch with the Malaysian authorities concerned to ensure smooth services to the workers.
The Bangladesh mission has, in the meantime, requested the Malaysian government to regularise the workers who were cheated by dishonest recruiters.
More than 1.0 million Bangladeshis have gone to Malaysia with jobs in the past four decades, revealed the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training.
There is no accurate figure of how many workers have returned home once for all and exactly how many are staying in the Southeast Asian country now.
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