Bangladesh relies quite heavily on the hard work of our expat worker population across the globe. Indeed, according to Bangladesh Bank, during the first 19 days of October, the country received $1.553 billion in remittances, which, given the period of unrest and uncertainty following the ouster of the previous government, was more than welcome.
To say, then, that our expatriate workers are one of the very cornerstones of our economy, would not be an understatement. Which is why it is imperative that Bangladesh do a lot more for these hard working men and women, who already give up so much by opting to leave their home and families and seek out employment in faraway lands in order to make their country a better place.
Historically speaking, the state has done the absolute bare minimum when it comes to ensuring the safety and security of our workers abroad, with our embassies and other relevant authorities taking next to no actionable measures to protect them from exploitation. Malaysia has long been one of the most popular destinations for Bangladeshi expat workers, which has given way to unscrupulous syndicates being formed within Malaysia’s labour market accused of exploiting migrant workers and inflating recruitment costs.
Experts have rightly called both the Bangladeshi interim government and the Malaysian authorities to collaborate and put an end to this phenomenon as it would go a long way towards safeguarding the rights of migrant workers. The official recruitment process, as it stands, is in dire need of transparency, which is already being exploited by unscrupulous agents driving up costs for workers.
Our migrant workers do not deserve this, and the onus lies on the governments of both countries to coordinate more closely to ensure that our workers are not subjected to such exploitation. While a dedicated lounge for our migrant workers was a nice gesture of appreciation on the part of the administration, the goal should be to make the visa process smoother, more transparent, and less costly -- such measures would go a long way towards eliminating these syndicates completely.
