Delegation returns with no assurance from Malaysia to withdraw ban on recruitment of Bangladeshi workers
Malaysia still keeps mum about lifting the ban on Bangladeshi jobseekers imposed early 2009 following widespread allegations of malpractices in recruitment process.
“The Malaysian side did not say yes or no to our requests to open the job market for our workers,” said Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Secretary Zafar Ahmed Khan who led a delegation during a visit to Malaysia October 3-7.
“We also don’t have any breakthrough about regularising immigration status of thousands of Bangladeshis in Malaysia,” he added.
Malaysia has formed a taskforce on foreign workers which is now reviewing the recruitment process, he told The Daily Star.
The main objective of the visit was to thaw the Malaysian stance on the ban and ask the authorities to regularise the immigration status of many Bangladeshis, who are allegedly working without necessary papers.
Malaysia, which is home to around five lakh Bangladeshi expatriates, started recruiting labourers from Bangladesh in late 2006. Unofficial estimates suggest there are nearly two lakh irregular Bangladeshi workers, who are mainly victims of the malpractices.
Tenaganita, a migrants’ rights organisation in Malaysia, in a study in 2007 found that involving outsourcing agencies in recruiting Bangladeshi workers was a major cause behind labour exploitation.
The outsourcing companies recruited Bangladeshi workers through agencies in Bangladesh. To do the job, those companies were handed over the entire responsibility for the workers’ salaries, lodging, transportation, medical expenses, and insurance on the basis of contract with the employers (factories or farms).
Complaints are rife that the outsourcing companies did not pay the workers, rather imposed hidden fees on them indiscriminately.
Tenaganita found that the outsourcing companies had to bribe 1,500-2,000 ringgit (Tk 30,000 to Tk 40,000) to the Malaysian home ministry and spend 1,000-2,000 ringgit (Tk 20,000 to Tk 40,000) as “lobbyist fee” on a regular basis.
The Daily Star’s earlier investigation revealed a good number of Bangladeshi brokers were also involved in the process, in which excessive workers were hired to make fast bucks.
Recruiting agencies in Bangladesh have meanwhile blamed the Bangladesh mission in Kuala Lumpur saying the high commission was supposed to verify the job demands of the Malaysian employers and then attest those.
The agencies allege the Bangladesh mission did not play its due role, which also contributed to the malpractices.
“We asked them to enlist Bangladesh as a regular labour-source country so that Malaysian employers do not need special permission to hire workers from here directly,” Zafar Ahmed Khan said.
Recently, a fishing company of Malaysia’s Sabah Sarwak approached the Bangladesh mission to hire 5,000 Bangladeshi workers.
Quoting the Malaysian central government officials, Khan said the company from Sabah Sarwak has to obtain approvals from Malaysian home and human resources ministries to hire the workers, as there is a general ban.
Bangladesh Overseas Employment Services Ltd Managing Director Muhammad Abdullah said, “It will not be so easy to melt the Malaysian freeze. However, we must keep trying.”
