Malaysia labour market may again be at risk due to conspiracy by unscrupulous groups: Baira

Highlights:

• Malaysia stopped recruiting workers from Bangladesh and other countries on 31 May 2024
• 25 main and 312 associate recruiting agencies have been approved for the latest process
• Baira members say all eligible agencies were selected based on set criteria

The reopening of Malaysia’s labour market for Bangladeshi workers could again come under threat amid what members of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) described as a planned conspiracy by unscrupulous groups.

They also alleged that false information, fake demand letters and other activities were being used to disrupt the recruitment process as Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur move to resume sending Bangladeshi workers after a long suspension.

A section of Baira members supporting the recruitment process through selected agencies made the allegations at a press conference at the National Press Club in Dhaka today (21 September).

Calling for transparency in the recruitment process, Atiqur Rahman Biswas, convener of the Labour Market Protection Movement, said 25 licences were initially approved, while all eligible licence holders were later brought under the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS) through discussions.

“This is not syndication. The market is open to all capable and interested licence holders,” he said.

Malaysia stopped recruiting workers from Bangladesh and other countries on 31 May 2024. After a long suspension, the process of reopening the Malaysian labour market to Bangladeshi workers began in August this year.

So far, 25 main and 312 associate recruiting agencies have been approved for the process.

At the press conference, the members said only agencies meeting the required conditions had been included in the latest process. They also claimed that no financial transactions had taken place with recruiting agencies for inclusion in the FWCMS list.

They said the agencies were selected based on prescribed qualifications and conditions.

According to the speakers, Bangladesh sent workers to Malaysia through 10 recruiting agencies during 2017-18 and through 101 main and 250 associate agencies, along with the Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL), from 8 August 2022 to 31 May 2024.

Around 4.76 lakh Bangladeshi workers went to Malaysia during those periods, they said.

Baira’s former senior vice-president Abdul Gafur Bhuiyan said groups opposed to the reopening of the market were spreading misinformation by claiming that workers would have to spend Tk6-8 lakh to go to Malaysia.

“This is damaging the country’s image. The country that will recruit the workers has its own rules and regulations. We cannot interfere with those rules,” he said.

The speakers also alleged that some agencies and middlemen who failed to qualify for the previous process were trying to obstruct the reopening of the labour market by organising programmes and press conferences and circulating what they described as false information.

They said Malaysia had approved 25 main and 312 associate agencies from a list of 423 agencies submitted by Bangladesh, and the process of sending workers through these agencies is now moving forward.