Politicians complicated Malaysian labour market

Asif Munir: Recently, a very complicated situation has arisen regarding the export of manpower in Malaysia. An international newspaper reported that Malaysia’s labor market is closed for foreign workers from June 1. As a result, recruiting agencies have tried to send large numbers of workers to the country as a last resort. This caused a huge jam of workers at the airport.
According to media reports, 17,000 or more aspirants could not go to Malaysia because they could not get plane tickets despite having valid documents, although we initially heard the number was as high as 30,000. Bangladeshi manpower exporters’ organization Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) said in a statement that this number is more than 4,000. Basically, only those who are directly involved in recruiting may have the right information. But whatever the number, this situation will adversely affect the economy of Bangladesh.
Not only this, if the problem is not solved in the long term, it will create a bad situation socially and politically.
There are various omissions in the whole process of exporting manpower to Malaysia. Bangladeshis are also in demand because of their reputation among employers in the country. But some gaps remain in meeting this demand. There are some unscrupulous circles involved. Not only Bangladeshis in this cycle; Malaysians are also involved. Even the government of that country has influence in this cycle.
A few days ago, several important news about this came out in our media, where the names of many influential people of the country and even members of parliament came up.
Starting from the ministry, government officials and policy makers of various departments are directly or indirectly involved in these dishonest activities. Apart from this, we have come to know the names of many recruiting agencies in the news.
During the recruitment process in 2018 or earlier, the names of various individuals were known as members of the unscrupulous ring. This time too, their relationship has been reported. We clearly see that they are related to the politics of the ruling party. They have been doing these things for many years to spread power and influence in the society.
Unfortunately, even after so much news came out, the authorities did not take any initiative to stop the activities of this gang.
Immigrants are being cheated in various ways due to lack of proper state supervision. An aspirant is forced to hand over extra money to the agency. In almost all cases, evidence of harassment, fake tickets or giving fake visas has been found, the full responsibility of which falls on the recruiting agency. However, the amount of embezzled money is being shared among different groups. Starting from a broker in the village to the owner of the office showing unauthorized people in Dhaka are also sharers of this money. Many complaints have also been received against licensed agencies for overcharging.
We should note that a department under the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare is issuing licenses to agencies. It is the responsibility of the government to monitor licenses after granting them. But the government is not able to manage it properly. Or it turns out, influential people or politicians are the owners of these agencies. Many agency owners have close ties with these influential people. They manage to get out through the loopholes of the law. Many government officials also get a share of these embezzled funds. These are difficult to prove precisely. Because these dishonest transactions are not recorded. The lack of good governance and transparency in Bangladesh is present in this case. For this reason, the government cannot completely avoid this responsibility. Because, even if recruiting agencies are directly involved, they cannot send any people abroad in violation of state laws.
The victims of this whole process are poor people who want to go abroad by selling land or borrowing. But they suffer terrible losses due to state mismanagement, fraudulent traders, syndicates. In this incident, many families in the country were unimaginably upset. Clearance of aspirants, training, medical examination – government is directly involved in all aspects. Because of this, the government is an important medium in the whole process.
It is also the responsibility of the embassy officials to see if a person is getting work abroad. There are also allegations that there is no response by calling the embassy. Maybe due to various busyness of the officials it is not possible to pick up the phone. But in the end, it is a common citizen who has to suffer.
In short, the recruiting agency can dominate the expatriate candidates, but not make the decision. An agency can’t send a person abroad past the airport in defiance of state law. In that place the power and jurisdiction of the government is above all. This situation has arisen because the government is not fulfilling its responsibilities properly in this case. Due to this, there is doubt among the people whether the government will face the accountability of the accused even after knowing so much. It has created a very frustrating situation for all of us. What is more unfortunate, even if accountability is faced, a situation will be created where the village broker will be mainly blamed; Not the dominant ones.
There needs to be a transparent and credible investigation into the entire incident. It is also important to solve the problems of those who could not go. But the long-term solution is the most important. If you don’t do this, the same thing will happen again and again. It may not be possible to send any manpower to Malaysia in the future. If there is good will and sincerity of the state, the solution of the problem is undoubtedly possible.
Asif Munir: Expert on Immigration and Refugees