Recruiters, rights bodies oppose syndication in labour migration to Malaysia
Owners of the country's manpower recruiting agencies have demanded open recruitment from all legal agencies of Bangladesh, jointly expressing their stand against allowing a 25-agency syndicate for sending workers to Malaysia.
At a press conference on Wednesday, they also demanded exemplary punishment to the masterminds behind the syndicate.
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 25-agency syndicate although a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed last year.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Ali Haidar Chowdhury, former general secretary at Baira, said, "Malaysia takes 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 also said.
Besides, irregularities, corruption and immigration costs will see a sharp rise, he noted.
Bangladesh Civil Society for Migration expresses concern over syndication
Bangladesh Civil Society for Migration Bangladesh Civil Society for Migration (BCSM), a coalition of 20 bodies working for the welfare of migrants, in a statement on Wednesday expressed concern over the formation of a new syndicate for sending workers to Malaysia.
The members of the platform hoped that there would not be repetition of mistakes that led to the closure of the Malaysian labour market for a long time.
They demanded that labour migration be done through an open and transparent system so migrant workers in no way get harmed.
"The reopening of the Malaysian labour market has made everyone happy. But according to media reports, the old agencies [a syndicate of 10 agencies formed in 2015] want to become active again," according to the statement.
"Malaysian Human Resources Minister M Saravanan has sent a letter to Dhaka on 14 January to hire workers through only 25 recruiting agencies. This is of great concern to us," read the statement signed by Dr CR Abrar, chair of BCSM.
