Members of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) on Thursday said that migration costs for Bangladeshi workers will go up like in the past if syndication takes place again in the Malaysian labour market.
They also raised concerns that such illegal syndication will increase corruption and irregularities as well in the migration process.
The concerns were expressed at a press conference under the headline “Supporting the government's anti-syndicate stance on sending workers to Malaysia and demanding open market for all legitimate recruiting agencies” held at a hotel in Dhaka.
“I fear that the innocent workers going abroad and the owners of most of the legitimate recruiting agencies will fall prey to their greediness again,” said former president of BAIRA Mohammad Abul Bashar while presenting a written statement at the conference.
As per the announcement of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 1,000 workers from each upazila would be sent abroad. However, if manpower is exported through a syndicate in a big labour market like Malaysia, there will be irregularities and corruption again.
The market might get close again like 2017 which will have a negative impact on other labour markets as well, he added.
Abul Bashar also said Malaysia should take workers from Bangladesh without the syndicate like 13 other countries. The practice of syndicating while hiring workers only from Bangladesh is disrespectful for the country.
Due to the extra migration costs and exploitation of workers in Malaysia, some of their products have been banned by various countries, including Canada and the United States, he added.
“Those who had syndicated last time are still active. We do not know who these 25 recruiters are but for them, 1,500 legitimate agents of the country cannot work as brokers or sub-agents,” said the former president.
BAIRA former president Mohd Noor Ali said last time, 1.4 million people registered at the G2G level between Bangladesh and Malaysia. However, only 7,000 people were able to go as there was not enough supply as per the demand.
Many died while going to the sea illegally and mass graves were found in the jungles of Thailand, he added.
“After the process of exporting manpower to Malaysia started again, those who have a valid recruiting license to export manpower. We told in the last AGM that we will take only the service charges. But people who were part of the last 10 syndicates are trying to form a syndicate again,” said Mohd Noor Ali.
Due to the syndicate, it was not possible to send people to Malaysia last time despite the demand in many sectors, especially in the electronic sector, he added.
BAIRA former general secretary Shamim Ahmed Chowdhury Noman said that Bangladesh's agreement with Malaysia states that the employer will appoint the agency of their choice. The Malaysian government cannot determine the agency.
At the conference, the BAIRA members welcomed the directive given by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the cabinet meeting on February 8 to ensure greater cleanliness in the immigration sector and prevent fraud.
They also thanked the Minister for Expatriate Welfare of Bangladesh for their response to the letter containing the syndicate of the Minister of Human Resources of Malaysia.
Criticism rose after Malaysian Minister M Saravanan, in a letter on January 14, urged his Bangladeshi counterpart Minister for Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Imran Ahmad to initiate the process of sending workers to Malaysia through 25 Bangladesh Recruitment Agencies (BRA).
However, Imran Ahmad on January 18 responded to the Saravanan letter reiterating Bangladesh’s decision to ensure open competition in this regard.
The Malaysian National Association of Private Employment Agencies also refused to own its government’s decision on recruiting manpower from Bangladesh through syndication.
