Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday dissolved parliament and announced that the date for fresh general elections would be declared today. Political circles in Kuala Lumpur anticipate that the national polls may take place on March 20-21.

So, manpower export from Bangladesh to Malaysia is unlikely to resume before the general elections, the sources observed. Visits by delegations from both the countries to expedite the resumption process have also been stalled.

"The whole process of manpower export resumption has slowed down following the dissolution of parliament in Malaysia," said State Minister for Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Mohammad Quamrul Islam.

He said Dhaka was prepared to resume exporting fresh workers from this month.

Malaysia stopped recruiting workers from Bangladesh in 1997 following a huge inflow of illegal workers.

The Malaysian government was supposed to start receiving applications from the employers for recruiting workers from Bangladesh from March 1. But Dhaka is yet to confirm any development in this regard.

A formal agreement to resume recruitment of fresh workers was signed between Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur in October last year, which is yet to take effect as the Malaysian authorities are still not ready.

The visit of a high-powered delegation headed by Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies President Mosharraf Hossain MP has, meanwhile, been suspended. The delegation comprising Chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the expatriates welfare and overseas employment ministry Nazir Hossain was scheduled to fly to Malaysia today.

The reason for the suspension was attributed to the absence of the Bangladesh high commissioner in Malaysia. The newly appointed High Commissioner Shafi U Ahmed is yet to take over the charge while his predecessor Masud Aziz last week joined the Bangladesh Embassy in Jordan as the new envoy.

A private sector delegation from Malaysia, which was supposed to come to Dhaka to visit the training centres for intending workers, was also suspended without citing any reasons.