Something’s rotten in Bangladeshi workers’ recruitment in Kuala Lumpur

A recent report in The Daily Star caught my attention. According to the report, remittance flow to Bangladesh rose to a seven-month high in March as expatriate Bangladeshis sent home $2.02 billion – the highest since September last year when $1.53 billion flew into the country. It said this could be related to the expats sending back more for their families to celebrate Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr.

Citing data from the Bangladesh Bank, March's receipts were nearly 29.3 percent higher than February's $1.56 billion and 8.5 percent higher from $1.85 billion recorded in March last year.

Data from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) of Bangladesh reveals that in 2022, 612,418 Bangladeshi expatriate workers secured jobs in Saudi Arabia, 179,612 in Oman, 101,775 in the UAE, 64,383 in Singapore, and 50,090 in Malaysia. In 2021, overseas jobs for Bangladeshis stood at 617,209.

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While the official figure for Malaysia is the lowest, there is much suspicion that it could be higher if the number of undocumented migrant workers are taken into account.

While I am not sure of the situation in the other countries, the pre-Covid stories of thousands of Bangladeshis landing in Malaysia with no jobs seems to be emerging now.

Coincidentally or otherwise, two senior aides of Human Resources Minister V Sivakumar were arrested in connection with corruption regarding the foreign workers quota. The first step in the process in securing foreign workers is for the employer to apply for the quota. The companies have to provide proof and other documents to show that they actually need the number of workers they ask for. The relevant authorities have to verify the need first before they issue the quota. In other words, if everything is done above board, no worker should land in Malaysia without a job after spending about $3,000-4,000 to reach here.

So, something is terribly wrong when we see Bangladeshi workers arriving here to a named company on temporary work visas, but they are not employed by the firm. Activists and NGOs are claiming that the company only exists in name, but has no operation.

While there is some cheating on the Malaysian recruitment agencies' part that is creating the current problems, some people are saying they are working in collusion with agencies in Dhaka, or some strong and influential individuals there.

And a few days ago, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) ordered two officers from the Malaysian embassy in Dhaka to return home, nabbing them upon arrival for probes linked to the recruitment of migrant workers. They were remanded on suspicion of receiving bribes in connection with the issuance of visas to Bangladeshi tourists and workers.

Reportedly, the MACC has also frozen more than 20 bank accounts and seized assets estimated to be worth 3.1 million Malaysian ringgit believed to belong to the two officers. The assets include eight plots of land.

In a rare public message, the Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur made a lengthy post on its Facebook page hinting at the recruitment process in Malaysia not being fully transparent. The mission has also been seen as "a little more" outspoken when its High Commissioner Md Golam Sarwar told the news portal FMT that they had lodged complaints with the Malaysian labour department against the firm that was named in the stranded workers' temporary visas.

While there is some cheating on the Malaysian recruitment agencies' part that is creating the current problems, some people are saying they are working in collusion with agencies in Dhaka, or some strong and influential individuals there. And the rumour is that these individuals are strongly connected to certain leaders at the top level or some middlemen linking the two. The problem of Bangladeshi workers being cheated has been persisting for decades. What has the high commission done so far to mitigate the problem to protect its citizens who work hard in Malaysia to earn a living for their relatives back home?

The general consensus is that there is a lot to be done to bring back dignity to the workers in Malaysia who are generally "looked down upon," although they are a vital cog to the nation's economy at various levels for smooth operation.

Perhaps the mission should take a leaf out of the book of the Indonesian ambassador in Kuala Lumpur, Hermono, who calls a spade a spade – even if it hurts the Malaysians. His vocal and non-compromising stand on defending his country's expatriate workers has seen massive changes in how they are protected. He managed to get the old MoU on the recruitment and protection of domestic helpers completely changed. Their rights are now completely protected, and if the employers violate any of the clauses, they will be blacklisted.

Hermono even went to the extent of telling the Malaysian government to look for other source countries if they are not happy with the Indonesian conditions. Malaysia relented and signed the new MoU last year.

His no-holds-barred stand comes from his experience of heading the national body for the placement and protection of Indonesian migrant workers at one time. The Indonesian government made the protection of migrant workers its utmost priority, and incorporated it in the National Action Plan of Human Rights 2015-2019.

Bangladesh and Malaysia signed an MoU on the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers in 2021, effective for five years until December 2026.

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Obviously, this has not changed things much. The agents, with the help of influential individuals, have turned it into modern-day slavery. The general feeling here is that the Bangladesh mission is not pulling its weight by being too diplomatic.

This could be related to the repatriation of huge amounts of money from its workers abroad, which is among the country's highest revenue earners. No one should ignore the suffering of the poor migrant workers just for national revenue. If they do and their citizens suffer, let me say: they have blood on their hands.

Bangladesh and Malaysia need to resolve this problem together.

K Parkaran is a freelance journalist in Kuala Lumpur, and currently a columnist with Malaysia's leading news portal FreeMalaysiaToday (FMT).