Faulty MoU gives Malaysian firm upper hand

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), that Bangladesh signed with Malaysia in December last year to send workers abroad, has a worrisome clause. Even though recruitment agencies are a key part of the puzzle, the MoU specifically mentions a privately owned online system.

Under the “Responsibilities of the Government of Malaysia” section in the MoU, clause (v) reads, “The Government of Malaysia shall select BRA automatically through the online system from the list provided by the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.”

The Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS) online system is operated by BESTINET SDN BHD, which is owned by Bangladeshi-origin Malaysian Dato Seri Amin. Stakeholders have raised questions as to why Bangladesh deliberately allowed Malaysia and a private firm to get the upper hand in this major deal.

Industry insiders – especially the anti-syndicate alliance of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) – have long been voicing concerns over this move, pointing out that instead of going through one firm, the employers must directly pick recruiters.

Much to the frustration of the local manpower recruiters and backing up the ill-motivated efforts of the 25-agency syndicate, Malaysian Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri M Saravanan on Thursday said his country will decide who the labour recruiters are in Bangladesh.

Saravanan made the remark to journalists after a Joint Working Group meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart Imran Ahmad in Dhaka, adding that the mechanism for hiring workers from Bangladesh however will come into effect after the Malaysian cabinet meeting approval.

When reporters asked him whether there would be a syndicate of recruiters, or an open-for-all model would be adopted for sending labourers to Malaysia, he said, “Usually, the receiving country decides about the agencies. We will do this according to the decision of our cabinet,”

Meanwhile, following the programme, Expatriates Welfare Minister Imran Ahmad said the Malaysian government will select the recruiting agencies among a list of 1,520 Bangladeshi agents, which was sent by the Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment.

Speaking to reporters at the ministry after his meeting with Saravanan, the minister said, “Bangladesh has 1,520 officially recognised recruiting agencies, and we already sent this list to the Malaysian government. But, selection is their [Malaysia] right, and they will exercise it.

“Though there are repeated mentions of 25, 50 or 100 agencies, such figures are not found in the memorandum of understanding (MoU) or in the Thursday’s meeting minutes. When a person takes a [recruiting agency] license, they obviously take it to do business. It is entirely up to them to find business and market themselves.”

Bangladesh experienced a bitter turn of events centring syndicate involvement in the Malaysian labour market back in 2016. That year, the labour market began with just ten agencies under the FWCMS online system controlled by BESTINET SDN BHD, but workers’ migration was suspended after just one and half years due to irregularities, corruption and high migration costs.

Though the government had directed that workers be sent abroad at minimal costs and with the involvement of most recruiting agencies, because of the irregularities and corruption in the online system, the country could not even send 25 per cent of the targeted 12 lakh workers.

The same platform, still owned by the same man Dato Seri Amin, has yet again taken the responsibility for sending workers to Malaysia – one of the largest labour markets for Bangladesh.

The MoU, signed by Bangladesh’s Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad and his Malaysian counterpart Datuk Seri M Saravanan, left the fate of millions of aspirant migrants and thousands of licenced recruiters at the hands of one ill-reputed firm.

While the minister Imran had been in favour of open competition among all valid labour recruiters of Bangladesh in sending workers to Malaysia, he, however, made a U-turn in favour of a notorious syndicate comprising 25 recruiting agencies for unknown reasons.

Earlier, Imran Ahmad through various communications with his Malaysian counterpart cited the Competition Act of Bangladesh for giving equal opportunity to all valid recruiting agencies.

On January 14, Imran in a letter in response to a syndication proposal from Malaysia said Bangladesh is always in favour of transparent, fair, and safe migration, as per relevant charters of International Labour Organisation and the country’s Competition Act 2012, by keeping the opportunities open to all the valid licensed recruiting agencies.

‘’He (Imran) bowed down to pressure, and syndicate. It is unfair to favour a few recruiting agencies among the 1520,” a frustrated labour exporter told The Business Post.

“We are finalizing our next course of action to get rid of syndicate and weak regulatory stance,” he added.

Medical screening business also up for grabs

To make matters worse, the syndicate led by Dato Seri Amin is also eyeing the business of medical tests, as Malaysia will take about five lakh workers from Bangladesh in three to five years and all of them will have to clear primary medical screening.

Under the MoU section “Responsibilities of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh,” clause (ii) reads, “The Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh shall ensure that the workers obtain the necessary travel documents and undergo medical examination at the designated medical centres in Bangladesh.”

Taking advantage of this requirement cited in the MoU, a syndicate of 35 medical centres – featured on the website of Malaysian FWCMS platform – is actively trying to manipulate the situation and line their pockets.

Industry insiders say most of these 35 medical centres are unauthorised and sub-standard and none of those is a leading medical or diagnostic centre or hospital in Bangladesh.

There are also allegations that Dato Seri Amin’s Bangladeshi partner Ruhul Amin Shawpon owns a number of these medical centres, while several others are patronised by the BNP-Jamaat clique.

Other medical centres are being swindled out of huge sums of money in the pretext of registration, they said, adding that these are happening without the approval of the Bangladesh government, industry insiders say.

Meanwhile a number of BAIRA members questioned on what basis the FWCMS prepared the list and who approved it? They wondered how a foreign company could publish the list of medical centres without the approval of the health ministry.

If the Malaysian government hires a private firm to ensure the quality of the primary health examination of the migrant workers, it is unnecessary to conduct a second health screening after going to Malaysia, they added.

Back in 2016, the foreign platform had pocketed a huge sum of money citing issues like bio-medical and online x-ray reports screening by Malaysian doctors.

At least 40 per cent of foreign-bound job seekers were declared medically unfit in the first phase only for making profits. Despite the so-called digitisation and modernisation, thousands of workers were declared medically unfit from Malaysia.

That year, errors in the FWCMS bio-medical portal caused the erasure of hundreds of health reports while thousands failed to receive their reports even after a month. As a result, recruiters hired workers from other countries.

Thousands of workers were robbed of their luck. Government data show that 2,75,000 Bangladeshi workers went to Malaysia under G2G agreement from February 2017 to December 2018.

But during this time, the number of medical tests was four times higher due to irregularities of FWCMS and medical centre syndicate. There are allegations that FWCMS looted billions of taka in the pretext of medical tests and charged Tk 5,300 for bio-medical examinations.

Thousands of workers failed to reach Malaysia and never got any compensation due to numerous complications of FWCMS syndicate despite being medically fit.

Accepting the same formula of syndicate translates into favouring corruption and disregarding the interests of workers, industry insiders said.

Even Malaysia has more than 500 approved recruiting agencies

It should be noted that the Malaysian government – after facing much criticism and protests in their own country – approved more than 500 recruiting agencies (those having the C licence), instead of selecting the proposed 25 firms.

So, for the best interest of Bangladesh, it is essential that all legitimate and eligible recruiting agencies in the country get the opportunity to work, industry insiders said.

The agencies have to be allowed to work equally and competitively in both countries in a 1:1 ratio. If 513 Malaysian recruiting agencies (those having the C licence) work with only 25 agencies in Bangladesh, the 1:21 work ratio will be illogical and unacceptable.

According to the Bangladesh Competition Act 2012, it is compulsory to allow all legal and qualified recruiting agencies to work considering our country’s interests.

Bangladesh’s labour market in Malaysia

Bangladesh first signed an agreement to send manpower to Malaysia in 1992. But the process stopped after a few years. Sending of manpower had earlier resumed in 2006, but the Malaysian government stopped the process yet again in 2009 over alleged illegal migration.

After several discussions between the two governments, Bangladesh signed another agreement in 2016 to send manpower to Malaysia. But due to widespread allegations of irregularities and syndication, the process stopped once again in September 2018.

Bangladesh signed a new MoU with Malaysia On December 21 last year to send manpower.

In January this year, Malaysian Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri M Saravanan – in a letter to the Expatriates Welfare Minister Imran Ahmad – mentioned that Bangladesh’s labour market in Malaysia will not be opened to all.

Bangladesh will be able to send workers to that country only through 25 recruiting agencies and 250 sub-agents. In response, Bangladesh had said the proposal is unacceptable as it goes against the Competition Act and also the International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention.

The Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies’ (BAIRA) anti-syndicate grand alliance and the Sommilito Somonnoy Front have been demanding the cancellation of syndication in the country’s major labour market Malaysia, and ensuring the participation of all valid recruiting agencies in this process.