Thirty-four Members of Parliament from Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami representing half of the main opposition party’s parliamentary contingent are currently on a multi-country foreign tour alongside their spouses and family members.
The 16-day trip began on September 13 in Malaysia, covers Singapore, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain with some lawmakers also receiving government clearance to visit Oman, Thailand, the UAE and Australia. Most of the traveling group is scheduled to return to Bangladesh by October 1.
Jamaat officials described the visit as an "educational and knowledge-sharing tour" intended to expose its lawmakers to global governance models and foreign parliamentary operations.
"We are trying to understand parliamentary systems in different countries and gain experience in leadership and state governance," said Jamaat parliamentary spokesman Najibur Rahman Momen. Ahsanul Mahboob Zubair, head of Jamaat’s publicity department, clarified that the tour was not secret mentioning that MPs traveled following invitations from expatriate groups and personal arrangements.
During their initial leg in Malaysia, the MP's attended a seminar in Kuala Lumpur hosted by the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS) focusing on modern approaches to parliamentary leadership. In the Philippines, the delegation visited local government bodies and educational institutions before preparing to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah.
The extensive trip has drawn public interest at home as 34 of Jamaat’s 68 directly elected MPs are out of the country simultaneously. The tour also coincided with a September 19 long march organized by Jamaat-e-Islami's 11-party alliance over domestic policy issues.
Party insiders revealed that this visit may be the first phase of a broader initiative. Jamaat-e-Islami is currently considering sending its remaining lawmakers on a similar delegation to Europe by December to engage with European Union officials and international parliamentary bodies.
