Recruiters demand open manpower export through all legal agencies

Owners of manpower recruiting agencies have demanded open recruitment from all legal agencies of Bangladesh.

At a press conference on Tuesday at National Press Club, they expressed their stand against the decision to allow a 25-agency syndicate to send workers to Malaysia.

The "Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) Syndicate Birodhi Mohajote" claimed that the Malaysian labour market is yet to reopen for Bangladesh because of the mismanagement of the said syndicate despite an MoU being signed last year.

Former Baira president Abul Bashar, said, "Malaysia hires migrant workers from 13 different countries without any syndicates. 

"So, it will be quite disrespectful if the syndication clause only applies to Bangladesh."

If a limited number of recruiting agencies are allowed to work, labour migration will slow down and hundreds of agencies will be deprived of their fair share, he said.

Besides, irregularities, corruption and immigration costs will see a sharp rise, noted Bashar.

They demanded that labour migration be done through an open and transparent system.

A debate over syndication in labour recruitment for Malaysia is currently ongoing, especially after Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur signed a MoU in this regard on 19 December.

At the heart of the debate is the syndicate of 25 Bangladeshi agents and 250 sub agents (selected by 25 agencies) to send workers mentioned by Malaysian Human Resources Minister M Saravanan in a letter to Bangladesh Expatriates' Welfare Minister Imran Ahmad on 14 January.

Responding to the letter, Minister Imran Ahmed sent a letter to the Malaysian government on 18 January, reiterating the ministry's position against any sort of syndication in manpower export to Malaysia, which was lauded by Bangladeshi recruiters.