Home ›› 28 Jan 2022 ›› Front
Malaysian Private Employment agency – National Association of Private Employment Agencies Malaysia – also does not own the decision their government has taken on recruiting manpower from Bangladesh through syndication, comprising only 25 Bangladesh Recruitment Agencies (BRA).
Rather, the national agency hailed the Bangladesh government’s position that seeks fair and transparent ways in line with the spirits of the ILO, and the MoU the two countries had signed in December in this regard.
President of the National Association of Private Employment Agencies Malaysia Dato Megat Fairouz Junaidi Bin Tan Sri Megat Junid in a letter to Bangladesh Minister for Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Imran Ahmad on January 23 hailed the ministry for undertaking a strategy for a fair competition among all Bangladeshi recruiters.
“At the outset, I want to note my sincere appreciation and applause for the decision Your Excellency and your ministry has made with regards to the intake of Bangladeshi migrant workers into Malaysia. Your Excellency’s letter dated 18th January 2022 to our Human Resource Ministry has delighted us very much for standing firmly on a few principles,” reads the letter of Fairouz.
Besides Minister Imran, Fairouz sent the same letter to different government agencies and private bodies in Bangladesh.
Malaysian Human Resource 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).
Minister Imran on January 18 responded to Saravanan’s letter reiterating open competition from Bangladesh.
“I want to reiterate that, Bangladesh is always in favour of transparent, fair and safe migration, as per relevant charters of International Labour Organisation (ILO), our Competition Act 2012 by 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,” reads Imran’s letter.
“According to the provision, the Government of Malaysia shall select BRA automatically through the online system from the list provided by the government of Bangladesh, and Government of Malaysia shall ensure transparency and fairness in the selection and distribution of quota.”
Bangladeshi recruiting agency owners also demanded keeping the labour market open for all valid recruiting agents to ensure fair competition through media briefings on several occasions. A number of recruiting agents said Nepal, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia are among other countries that send workers to Malaysia through open competition among their recruiting agencies.
Tasneem Siddiqui, the chair of Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit, told The Business Post that the 25 agencies had influenced Malaysia to write for them.
“There is an ‘unholy nexus’ of the agencies for the syndication. The government should find them out and bring them to book,” she said.
President of the National Association of Private Employment Agencies Malaysia in his letter expressed its readiness to work with all Bangladeshi valid licensed agencies in recruiting manpower from Bangladesh.
“We hereby agree to work and partner with BAIRA for better monitoring of the systems and recruitment processes ensuring only valid licensed agencies in both the countries to participate to operate and manage the intake of migrant workers from Bangladesh into Malaysia. We will ensure that the cost is minimised and there will be no exorbitant recruitment fees paid by any migrant worker into Malaysia and those violating our joint MoU agreement and procedures will be dealt severely by a way of suspension of their licenses for a minimum period of six months after which we will study the said agency to ascertain their membership to continue recruitment,” reads the letter of Dato Megat Fairouz Junaidi Bin Tan Sri Megat Junid.
Fairouz, in his letter, vowed to undertake all out transparent and fair treatment policies towards Bangladeshi migrant workers in Malaysia.
“We also have derived a digital system platform on real-time basis between us the Malaysian Recruiting Agencies and BAIRA to monitor each and every migrant worker who is recruited and arrives in Malaysia to be employed given protection, safeguarding and welfare amenities under our Malaysian labour Law 1955. Each migrant worker will arrive on approved legal employment status and leave Malaysia as a valid work permit holder returning to Bangladesh after the commencement and completion of their employment contracts,” reiterates the letter.
Referring to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) charters on overseas labour recruitment, the letter further hailed the stand of Minister Imran for upholding that no discrepancy and unlawful recruitment will take place between the countries.
The letter also criticised the syndication and monopoly involving Bangladesh and Malaysia in 2018.
“The syndicated and monopoly type of recruitment has caused major issues in bilateral relationship amongst both our countries in 2018 when Malaysia chose to stop the recruitment process after major hiccups in the process and the system whereby a lot of money and corruption mechanisms were detected. It failed miserably although the syndicated members made lots of money through empowering themselves in the recruitment industry during that period of time,” the letter said further.
Meanwhile, in an open letter on Jan 24, an agency criticised the syndication suggestion and urged the prime ministers of Malaysia and Bangladesh to “stop this madness”. It also hailed Bangladesh’s stance and praised the country for remaining “steadfast in ensuring that its citizens are not subjected to any monopoly and manipulation by select individuals with self-interests”.
Talked, a senior official at the ministry of expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment said they stood by the spirit of ensuring fair competition among all valid licensed recruiters of Bangladesh.
“No syndication, no monopoly. We have clear instructions from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for ensuring fair competition among all recruiters for sending workers to Malaysia,” a senior ministry official, preferring anonymity, told The Business Post.
“We have already conveyed our position to our counterpart in Malaysia.”
‘No smoke without fire’
Meanwhile, independent migrant worker rights specialist Andy Hall said he was unconvinced with Saravanan’s logic that he has no knowledge of the agencies as they were furnished by the Bangladeshi authorities themselves although the selection process was approved by the Malaysian side based on track record and other relevant elements.
“Fascinating to understand the objective selection methods the Malaysian Government will use to arrive at 275 actors or is it in fact the need to pay money or use political favors to get selected and be on the list?” he pointed out in a recent Twitter posting.
“Also the argument about a ‘dumping ground’ used by the Minister doesn’t make sense at all. It is Malaysia that controls the number of foreign workers allowed to come into the country.”
The “dumping ground” issue came about as Saravanan justified the rationale behind the HR Ministry’s appointment of 275 sub-agents instead of 1,600 agencies as requested by BRA.
“Allowing all these agencies will make Malaysia a dumping ground and I can’t monitor all of them if any of them collect additional charges from the worker. At least now we are able to trace them and the complaints will be manageable,” he told Malaysiakini in a recent interview.
He said the appointment of 275 agencies marks a shift from the previous MoU signed in 2016 where only 10 agencies were selected, prompting allegation of recruitment monopoly.
On Dec 19 last year, Malaysia and Bangladesh inked a new five-year agreement involving the hiring of one million workers from the south Asian country.
Hall wondered whether it is co-incidental that a limitation of sorts seems to be applied specifically on Bangladesh as opposed to other nations.
“There are no such limits in Myanmar, Nepal or Indonesia, for instance. Lots of explaining still to do. Lots of talk, lots of denials. But there is no smoke without fire,” added Hall.
