[3] This decision was met with criticism from both individuals in government and the general Malaysian public and was quickly revoked.
[4][5][6] Bengali people have long established in Malaysia, history record demonstrated that the traders from the Bay of Bengal had been involved in commercial activities in the Sultanate of Malacca in the 15th-16th century.
The mass arrival from Bengal correlated with the larger migration from British India to work with the colonial government and companies.
The first migrant workers from modern-day Bangladesh are believed to have been a group of 500 who came in 1986 to work on plantations; the two countries concluded a governmental-level agreement on manpower exports in 1992, following which migration expanded sharply.
[8] A scandal arose in 1996 when it became known that Bangladeshi consular officials in Kuala Lumpur had overcharged at least 50,000 workers applying for passport renewal by RM200-300, thus appropriating RM10-15 million for themselves.