Atiqul Kabir Tuhin
The prospect of Malaysia reopening its labour market to Bangladeshi workers offers a ray of hope. However, there is a catch. The authorities in both countries appear to be repeating the same failed policy of the past by restricting open competition in recruiting and sending of workers from Bangladesh.
As part of the prospective reopening, Malaysia’s Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS) recently published the names of 25 Bangladeshi recruiting agencies. Following criticism, the list was expanded to include 338 Bangladeshi agencies. However, subsequent media report reveals that the list includes 26 primary agencies comprising 25 private firms and the state-owned BOESL, along with 312 sub-agencies.
Industry insiders argue that sub-agencies’ recruitment orders would have to be routed through the 26 primary agencies, which once again raises concerns about syndication that previously drove up migration costs and caused inhumane suffering to tens of thousands of Bangladeshi workers who did not get the promised jobs. Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported on the tragic death of a Bangladeshi migrant worker, Shofiqul Islam, whose death was linked to the consequences of this exploitative recruitment system.
Migrant workers are cheated during the migration process wherever they go. But over the years, Malaysia’s recruitment of workers from Bangladesh has emerged as one of the most extreme examples of private companies and government officials in both countries coming together to squeeze workers. This begins with restricting the number of recruiting agencies in the source country, creating scope for corruption and inflating the cost of migration.
Malaysia has been recruiting workers from Bangladesh since the 1980s. Currently, it hosts nearly 1 million Bangladeshi workers. In fact, Bangladeshis make up the largest group of foreign workers (around 37 per cent) in Malaysia. They work all over Malaysia’s economy. They staff shops and factories, toil on palm and rubber plantations, and produce palm oil and rubber gloves etc. Many of them work in Malaysia’s burgeoning electronic and semiconductor industries, while others build the skyscrapers shaping Kuala Lumpur. Citing their contribution to the Malaysian economy, a former Malaysian parliamentarian Charles Santiago once said that the economy would collapse without Bangladeshi workers.
At the same time, Malaysia is an important source of manpower export and remittance earning for Bangladesh. Yet the history of labour migration to Malaysia has been marked by repeated closure and reopening. To date, Malaysia has suspended the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers five times, with earlier restrictions imposed in 1996, 2001, 2009, 2018 and 2024. Each time the restriction was imposed due to allegations of corruption and irregularities in the recruitment process on both sides and exploitation of the workers. If the market reopens now, it would be fifth reopening.
When the latest restriction was imposed in May 2024, citing corruption and irregularities, it was hoped that the structural problems in the recruitment process would be addressed. The root cause of the problem, as it appears, is a private Malaysian company named Bestinet, which developed and operates the FWCMS system and sits at the centre of the recruitment process. Interestingly, Bestinet was founded by Bangladeshi-born Malaysian businessman Aminul Islam Abdul Nor, who reportedly got the system adopted by the government through his political connection.
Amid allegations that the FWCMS system monopolises the recruitment of foreign workers into Malaysia, the interim government reportedly called for the system to be scrapped and also sought Aminul’s arrest and extradition on charge of money laundering. Subsequently, the system was put on hold. But now the FWCMS system is back on track, while Aminul’s extradition is no longer an issue.
Now, government high-ups are saying that a certain number of workers will be sent to Malaysia free of cost. But it does not address the problem. What matters is not merely sending a certain number of workers free of cost, but reforming a system that has for years made migration costly and vulnerable to abuse. The governments of Bangladesh and Malaysia must therefore ensure a recruitment process that is transparent, competitive and affordable, with effective oversight to prevent intermediaries and officials from exploiting workers.
Source: https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/opinions/breaking-the-syndicate-in-manpower-trade
