The Bangladesh Civil Society for Migrants (BCSM), a platform of 20 organizations working on immigration, has expressed concern over the process of sending workers to Malaysia -- Bangladesh's fastest-growing labour market.
The organizations have urged the system to not repeat the same factors under the syndicates' system that led to the closure of the Malaysian labour market in the past. Instead, the workers should be sent through an open and transparent system so that migrant workers are not harmed in any way, said a statement.
The news of the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two countries on December 19, 2021 made everyone hopeful.
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Although it has been four months, the process of sending the workers has not been decided yet.
In the last few months, various media reported that a small number of Malaysian and Bangladeshi businessmen are willing to send workers through agencies or syndicates.
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The organizations are worried about controlled regulations of the labour market which prevented workers from going through syndicates following allegations of unethical activities of one syndicate in 2018.
The formation of the syndicate in 2016 resulted in a huge increase in the immigration flow. In the process of sending workers through only 10 recruiting agencies in Bangladesh, the cost of migration was initially estimated at Tk37,000 and later at Tk160,000, but the workers had to pay Tk300,000 to Tk400,000. The Mahathir government, which returned to power in 2018, canceled the G2G Plus system, alleging corruption of at least Tk5,000 crore.
In the last few years, as a result of various initiatives taken by the government of Bangladesh, the news of the re-opening of labour market in Malaysia made everyone optimistic. Mass media has been reporting the formation of syndicates again.
Malaysian Minister for Human Resources M Sarvan sent a letter to Dhaka on January 14 to hire workers through only 25 recruiting agencies, which is concerning. Traders of manpower have had meetings addressing the proposal of forming syndicates with 25 employees among more than 1,500 registered agencies in Bangladesh.
In response to the letter, Bangladesh's Minister for Expatriate Calling and Overseas Employment, MP Imran Ahmed, in a counter letter dated January 18, 2022, citing the ILO's Certificate and Bangladesh Competition Act 2012, said the Bangladesh government could not hire a limited number of agencies.
According to the law of Bangladesh, all the licensing agencies must be given equal opportunity. According to the letter, Bangladesh wanted safe and secure immigration. Besides, Bangladesh has proposed a meeting of the National Working Committee of the two countries to fix the process of sending workers.
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The BCSM welcomed the response of the minister and believes that there is no alternative to free, orderly and safe immigration with equal opportunities for all instead of syndicates. However, it is evident that even after three months of sending this letter, there has been no progress in sending workers.
With concern, the BCSM said that not only this time but in 2016 and before that in 2006 and 2007 there were incidents of sending workers on “calling visas”.
When it comes to the process of hiring workers from Bangladesh, there have been many unfortunate incidents instead of transparency. Malaysia should take workers from Bangladesh in the same way it takes workers from other countries in an open manner. Besides, Bangladesh should have its own system of online recruitment and self-examination so that there can be no irregularities or syndicates can be formed.
The cost of sending workers abroad from Bangladesh is already very high. According to a national survey by the Bureau of Statistics, a Bangladeshi worker has to spend 17 months' worth of salary to go abroad, which is the highest in the world, said the statement.
Considering the situation, the BCSM called upon all, including the prime minister, ministers, and Embassies of the Government of Malaysia and Bangladesh, to immediately open up the Malaysian labour market through a fair process, giving all recruiting agencies the opportunity to recruit instead of any new irregularities or syndicates.