kuala lumpur - Dhaka Mirror

Minister, Baira at loggerheads

Admin — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:49:17 +0000

KL Recruitment Right
Minister, Baira at loggerheads
Expatriates’ Welfare Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain yesterday turned down the private recruiting agencies’ demand for allowing them to recruit workers for jobs in Malaysia.
“I told Baira leaders that we shall initially send workers to Malaysia at government level. Gradually, when the system is streamlined, we will leave the task for the agencies,” he said after a meeting with the newly elected executive committee of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira).
A Malaysian delegation will come to Dhaka on June 5 to finalise the procedures for recruitment of workers from Bangladesh, the minister told journalists at his office.
Earlier, there were a lot of problems due to high cost of sending workers to Malaysia when private agencies were involved in the process, he mentioned. And malpractices led to a ban on recruitment of Bangladeshi workers by Malaysia in early 2009.
The government would not allow recurrence of malpractices when Malaysia resumes recruitment shortly, Mosharraf said.
Talking to journalists, Baira leaders however claimed that the minister agreed to allow private agencies to recruit workers for jobs in Malaysia.
Baira Secretary General Ali Haider Chowdhury said recruiting agencies are the “only stakeholder under the ministry” and they would remain the ones to recruit workers for jobs abroad.
He said the minister asked Baira to submit to his ministry a written proposal on workers’ migration cost for Malaysia and other countries.
Asked about Baira leaders’ claim following their meeting with him, Mosharraf appeared surprised. “Oh, is it? Then, you better ask them categorically. I do not know why they are speaking like that,” he said
About the ministers’ announcement on recruitment of workers at government level, Ali Haider said, “We do not know in what context the minister made this statement.”
Baira President Shahjalal Majumder said they would submit as proposal on workers’ migration cost by Monday.
At present, there are around four lakh Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia and 2.7 lakh of them are in the process of getting regularised.

-With The Daily Star input

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Goodbye, middlemen

Admin — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:41:06 +0000

Dhaka, KL agree on state handling of workers’ job in Malaysia
Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur have agreed on state arrangements for recruitment of Bangladeshi workers by Malaysia eliminating middlemen from the process to reduce the cost of sending workers and end their perennial abuses.
“Malaysia is very concerned about human trafficking. It wants to improve this situation,” Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain told journalists yesterday on his return from a four-day visit to Malaysia.
The minister was briefing the media at his office about his talks with the Malaysian authorities. He led a four-member delegation.
In Putrajaya, the delegation held meetings with Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein and Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri S Subramaniam.
The visit took place at a time when Malaysia is set to recruit workers from Bangladesh after completing regularisation of irregular foreign workers under its amnesty programme that began in August last year.
Around four lakh Bangladeshi workers are now in Malaysia, which froze recruitment from Bangladesh in early 2009 following numerous cases of exploitation of workers in 2007 and 2008. Many were jobless and stranded while many others suffered much more and returned home empty-handed.
Mosharraf said Kuala Lumpur now wants a fully transparent recruitment process. “The Malaysian home minister clearly said it is the brokers both in Bangladesh and Malaysia who are creating problems. They are embarrassed at it.”
At the meetings, Mosharraf pointed out the abusive practices of the recruiting agencies and brokers. He mentioned that Bangladesh has online database of overseas jobseekers, and the Malaysian authorities could allow direct recruitment of these registered jobseekers by their employers.
“Those registering first would be recruited first. Thus, the middlemen could be eliminated,” he said.
Bangladesh Overseas Employment Services Limited (BOESL) and the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) will conduct the recruitment process. Presently, Bangladesh sends workers to South Korea under government arrangements.
The minister said a Malaysian delegation will visit Bangladesh within a week or two to see the systems it has. Later, the Malaysian cabinet will scrutinise and finalise the recruitment process.
Recruitment from Bangladesh could start in two months or more, but it is sure that Malaysia would go for it. Under state arrangements, the cost of sending workers to Malaysia would not be more than Tk 50,000 each.
However, if any employer bears the air fare, the cost would be limited to Tk 30,000-35,000. In 2007-08, the cost was around Tk 2 lakh per head although the government-fixed rate was Tk 84,000.
Asked how he would handle the recruiting agencies who could create pressure on the government to allow them to send workers, he said “I will not backtrack. I am firm this time.”
He, however, said once the recruitment process is streamlined and workers can go at a low cost, private sector will take over.
“The government does not want to do business, but at the same time it cannot sit idle if the private agencies and brokers create troubles for the workers,” Mosharraf said.

-With The Daily Star input

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Recruit only thru’ govt

Admin — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:04:59 +0000

Dhaka proposes to KL to save workers from middlemen
Dhaka has proposed to Kuala Lumpur to recruit Bangladeshi workers under government arrangements to cut involvement of middlemen to reduce the cost of their going abroad for jobs and to put an end to their exploitation.
Malaysian Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Dr S Subramaniam has termed “attractive” the proposal made to him by Bangladesh Expatriates’ Welfare Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, reports Malaysian official news agency Bernama.
During a meeting with Subramaniam in Putrajaya, Mosharraf, who is on a five-day visit to Malaysia, said Bangladesh government will register all the overseas jobseekers and act as a facilitator in matching the employers’ needs with the workers’ qualifications, Bernama reported yesterday.
“It is an attractive suggestion. They (Bangladesh) said they have done it with other countries, where the government maintained a profile of the potential workers and, when they received a request from a certain country, they can sort the request, which will contribute to a smoother process at lower cost, with greater amount of protection for both workers and employers,” Subramaniam said.
He said he was thankful to Bangladesh for introducing a “very good mechanism” to reduce the cost of sending workers overseas. The proposal would be discussed by the cabinet committee on foreign workers and illegal immigrants to work out ways to implement the new intervention, he added.
Mosharraf said high cost of migration had been identified as the major cause of the problems of workers. They usually could not return home in time because they could not recover the cost, and this made them overstay their visa period.
He mentioned that the government was aware of this and had come up with the idea to ensure a reasonable migration cost for the workers.
Presently, there are over four lakh Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia. Of them, 270,000 are irregular, and have got registered with the Malaysian immigration authorities for getting regularised.
Subramaniam said the presence of 2.7 lakh irregular Bangladeshi workers indicated problems in the recruitment process, and it was good that Bangladesh government suggested a system to overcome those.
And Malaysian Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein has said Kuala Lumpur and Dhaka would share intelligence on the movement of Bangladeshi workers between the two countries, reports Malaysian daily The Star Online.
He said a team of security and finance experts would visit Bangladesh within two weeks to work out strategies to tackle human trafficking syndicates.
“The meeting (during its visit) will work out an operational framework where the two countries can exchange information and track down known and suspected traffickers, known as dalal in Bangladesh,” Hishamuddin said.
Meanwhile, Malaysia is likely to reopen its labour market soon. It imposed restriction on recruiting Bangladeshi workers in early 2009 following alleged malpractices in the process.

-With The Daily Star input

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5 lakh expat Bangladeshi workers to be fingerprinted

Admin — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 05:33:36 +0000

Malaysia
5 lakh expat Bangladeshi workers to be fingerprinted
Bangladesh and Malaysia will work together to fingerprint for the first time the estimated 500,000 Bangladeshis working legally and illegally here, said Hishammuddin Hussein, home minister of Malaysia, yesterday.
The government had struck a separate agreement with Bangladesh’s High Commission to facilitate the registration of their workers, beginning immediately, he said.
Under the deal, government officials may go to factories where Bangladeshis work to register them. The two countries will also share information to crack down on traffickers who exploit Bangladeshi workers.
“The objective is to… ensure that these people are not exploited either by human traffickers, syndicates or third parties,” the minister said.
Malaysia announced last week that it will offer amnesty to those who come forward from July 11 for two weeks. Some will be able to keep their jobs, while others will be deported without facing such penalties as caning for overstaying.
The country remains on a US human trafficking watch list, according to the annual Trafficking in Persons Report, which the State Department released this week.
“There remain many serious concerns regarding trafficking in Malaysia, including the detention of trafficking victims in government facilities,” the report said.
Hishammuddin admitted Malaysia was still in the process of tackling the problem.
“I agree with them. I think we should still be on the watch list because we have only just rolled out these measures” such as fingerprinting workers, he said

-With The Daily Star input

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Siddikur leading world No. 2

Admin — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 12:16:53 +0000

Lee Westwood may have the world No 1 spot in mind, but on the opening day of the Indosian Masters, Siddikur Rahman ruled the roost.
He shot an opening six-under-par 66 yesterday to lead and has the world No 2 Westwood trailing by two. According to the Asian Tour website, Siddikur fired two superb chip-ins in ideal scoring conditions to hold a one stroke lead over the chasing pack at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club.
Siddikur, starting from the 10th tee, said he was lucky to take the lead after holing out from 15 and 30 feet on holes 10 and two respectively.
“I was hitting and putting very well and it has been like this for a few weeks now. I’m getting more confidence every week and that’s why I’ve been playing so well,” said the 2010 Brunei Open winner.
The first Bangladeshi to play and win on the Asian Tour, Siddikur has continued to shine with commendable performances. He finished in eighth place at the Maybank Malaysian Open last week and was placed second at the SAIL Open in India last month, losing only by one stroke to Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand.
His eighth place finish in the Malaysian Open meant he was placed above 2011 Masters Tournament champion Charl Shwartzel and world No 1 Martin Kaymer of Germany.
Despite his success in Asia, Siddikur admitted he was feeling nervous playing with world number two Westwood.
“I saw the draw yesterday and was feeling a bit excited playing with one of the best players in the world. I have to admit I felt a bit shaky this morning playing with him,” he said.
Englishman Westwood, the hot favourite to win this week, was among seven players tied in eighth place on identical 68s. If he wins this week and Luke Donald does not in the United States, Westwood will regain his world number one spot from Kaymer.
He is determined to focus on the Indonesian Masters and is unperturbed by the fact that he has a chance of regaining the world number one spot this week.
“I’ll let things take its course and see what happens at the end of the week. Like I said before, I’m here to win a golf tournament,” said Westwood, Europe’s number one in 2000 and 2009.
Westwood struggled to get his putter on fire early in the round but birdied his closing two holes to place himself two strokes from the lead.
“I played solidly but I was a bit frustrated out there. It has been the story for me so far, hitting it great from tee to green and giving myself a lot of chances but not taking it,” added the Englishman.

FIRST ROUND SCORES
66 – Siddikur Rahman (BD).
67 – Park Hyun-bin (KOR), Lam Chih Bing (SIN), Antonio Lascuna (PHI), Prayad Marksaeng (THA), Hwang Inn-choon (KOR), Thongchai Jaidee (THA).
68 – Rory Hie (INA), Thitiphun Chuayprakong (THA), Ben Leong (MAS), Lee Westwood (ENG), Darren Beck (AUS), Mo Joong-kyung (KOR), Shaaban Hussin (MAS).
69 – Simon Griffiths (ENG), Iain Steel (MAS), Peter Gustafsson (SWE), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA).

Courtesy of The Daily Star

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Siddikur trumps World No.1

Admin — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 09:20:16 +0000

Golfer Siddikur Rahman was once again impressive as he surpassed a more illustrious name in the sport.
After finishing on eighth position in the $2.5-million Maybank Malaysian Open golf tournament in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, he was placed ahead of 2011 Masters Tournament champion Charl Shwartzel, who finished eleventh.
Siddikur also finished above world No 1 Martin Kaymer of Germany who finished on ninth place.
He was the top Asian Tour finisher in the co-sanctioned tournament, posting a final round 69 to end on 279 but was left rueing mistakes on the 13 and 15th. Siddikur won $62,500 as prize money (Tk 4,556,250) after giving a strong show on all three days of the competition that was won by Italian teen sensation Matteo Manassero.
“The crowd was very supportive and they cheered me on. It felt like I won the tournament after my birdie (18th hole). I had many supporters following me today (Sunday).
“I’m happy to finish in the top-10 and show the world that a player from Bangladesh can perform in such a big event,” said Siddikur.
He is now in second position in the Asian Tour Order of Merit with $117,607.69 (from four tournaments), behind SSP Chowrasia of India. Last year, Siddikur finished seventh in Asian Tour Order of Merit with $267,692.96 from 16 tournaments.
Earlier on April 9, Siddikur finished second behind Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand in the Panasonic Open in New Delhi, earning $32,550.
But Sunday’s finish ahead of South African Shwartzel as well as every other Asian Tour pro would lift his morale after a quiet start to the year (31st place finish in the SAIL Open in March).
Siddikur’s next tournament is the Indonesian Masters that begins on April 21.
Meanwhile, Manassero won by one shot over Frenchman Gregory Bourdy to seal his second European Tour victory. Manassero shot a fourth round four-under-par 68 at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club to seal the win with a four-round total of 272.
There was no comeback for world No 9 Rory McIlroy a week on from his last-round collapse at the US Masters.
The Northern Irishman battled bravely on the back nine to give himself a shot at victory but a bogey on the last meant there was no playoff with Manassero as McIlroy finished third on 14-under 274.
Bourdy posted 67 for a 273 total, while US PGA champion and world number one Martin Kaymer was eight shots back in a tie for ninth.
“I really had a good day today. I hit good shots. I am overjoyed,” Manassero said.
The youngster said an eagle on the par-five 10th had set him on his victory charge and subsequent birdies on 11 and 14 helped seal the hard-fought win over Bourdy.
“I had to do two birdies to win by one shot. It was a surprise win after the Castello Masters 11 months ago,” he said.
Manassero received the winner’s cheque of $416,660 and became the Malaysian Open’s youngest winner and the first Italian to win the tournament.

Courtesy of The Daily Star

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