Unholy manpower syndication nexus

In an apparently mysterious move the Malaysian government is insisting on 'syndication' in manpower export from Bangladesh, bypassing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) the two countries signed last month. The MoU brought an end to the Malaysian government's freeze on labour recruitment from Bangladesh since September 1, 2018, when it said malpractices in labour recruitment led to forced labour and debt bondage. We fully support the Bangladeshi government's decision to stand its ground regarding open competition and transparency in exporting manpower to Malaysia. We are for all valid recruiting agencies in Bangladesh getting the opportunity to send workers to Malaysia. Bangladesh Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed at a programme on Thursday categorically cleared his government's stance regarding the issue, saying that Bangladesh will not send workers to Malaysia through any syndicate. There have been frequent reports in the media about the mischief-mongering of the syndicate–allegedly a well-orchestrated stratagem of some local manpower recruiting agents in league with Malaysia-based manpower recruiting gangs. An unscrupulous group in the Malaysian government also favours syndication in Bangladesh to reap undue benefits. While Bangladesh and Malaysia have not disclosed the specific term of the MoU, experts believe syndication goes against its spirit and principles.

The syndication issue came to the fore with Malaysia's Human Resource Minister M Saravanan's letter on January 14, to his Bangladeshi counterpart urging the latter to initiate the process of sending workers to Malaysia through 25 Bangladesh Recruitment Agencies (BRA) and 250 sub-agencies. The letter clearly establishes Malaysia's insistence regarding syndication– which Bangladeshi manpower exporters say is contrary to the spirit of negotiations between the two countries on manpower export. The Bangladesh minister was emphatic in his response to the letter of his Malaysian counterpart. "I want to reiterate that, Bangladesh is always in favour of transparent, fair and safe migration, as per relevant charters of the International Labor Organisation (ILO) and our Competition Act 2012, keeping the opportunities open to all the valid licensed Bangladeshi Recruiting Agencies (BRA) as mentioned in Chapter C (v) and C (vi) of Appendix B of the MOU." The Malaysian government is supposed to select BRA automatically through the online system from the list provided by the government of Bangladesh, and the former shall ensure transparency and fairness in the selection and distribution of the quota.

Media reports say that other countries like Nepal, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia send workers to Malaysia through open competition among their recruiting agencies. Indonesia has more than 1,000 recruiting agencies, and Nepal has 884 for sending manpower to Malaysia. Naturally, Malaysian insistence for a smaller group of recruiting agencies in Bangladesh sounds dubious and indicates something rotten in the whole affair. Former Secretary General of BAIRA Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman questioned, "If other countries can keep their recruiting open for all, why not Bangladesh?".

If the previous record is anything to go by, sending migrant workers to Malaysia through a limited number of agencies would prove catastrophic. It will demean Bangladesh's objectives of ensuring transparency and keeping the migration costs low. The arrangement to send workers to Malaysia from Bangladesh through only 10 recruiting firms from 2017 to 2018 was an unmitigated disaster. The 10 agencies, chosen by Malaysia against an offering of over 700 agents, monopolised recruitment and led to the above-mentioned recruitment freeze.

Tasneem Siddiqui, the chair of the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit, told this that the 25 agencies have somehow influenced Malaysia to write for them. "There is an 'unholy nexus' of the agencies for the syndication." she said.

We urge the government to break the back of this unholy nexus by any means. We want fair play and are against any monopoly. The government should crush the money making game of those syndication elements for the sake of the jobseekers. We want the Malaysian authorities to reconsider their move after learning about the decision of the Bangladesh government. They should uphold the letter and spirit of the MoU.