No solidarity

Malaysia has become a very popular holiday destination for Bangladeshis. One of the fastest growing economies and its infrastructure make it worthwhile to visit the country. The crisscross elevated expressways, more than hundred-floored high rise buildings, numerous shopping complexes, and the twin towers add to the grandeur of the capital.

Bangladesh exports human resources for its development work. As many as around 500,000 Bangladeshi people live in Malaysia. They are mostly involved in jobs. The country is populated by three ethnic communities: The Malays who originally lived there, and the Chinese and Tamils who were brought in by the British to work in the palm plantation and other industrial factories. The country earned its independence in 1957. The government, mainly Mahathir Mohhamed’s, has worked relentlessly for its development since then.

Though in the 1960s, it was considered an opportunity for any Malaysian scholar to get invited by a Bangladeshi university or research centre, the scenario has reversed since then. Most of the universities there offer students and scholars the opportunity to research and study in different fields. Since 2012, Malaysia has been working on travelling to the international space centre.

I met two such groups during my visit, one was of medical students attending a quiz competition, with four from Bangladeshi medical colleges, who had participated. Another was a group of university teachers who attended summer camp at University of Perils.

Bangladesh and Malaysia agreed on manpower exports in 1992. It is one of the five countries to have done so, the other countries being Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Thailand. Hence, a large number of workers started immigrating to Malaysia. Most of the Bangladeshis who work there are either construction workers or are participating in some menial job. What surprised me was that the Bangladeshis there were not very keen when it came to helping other visiting Bangladeshis.

On my recent visit to Kuala Lumpur, we sought out a Bengali waiter when we were dining at a restaurant. He was a man from Gazipur in his mid-20s. Once he came to our table, he smiled with enthusiasm, talked for a bit, but never returned to our table a second time. I am not sure if he thought we might take advantage of him or not, for the next few days when we had our meals there at least once a day, he never came anywhere near our table.

Another young man, a fruit seller, forbade us to go to any Bengali shops as “they would rip us off” he said. At one shopping mall I heard a comment in Bangla that could only be categorised as eve teasing by the Bangladeshi standard.

These incidents reminded me of the joke that goes like this: There were three boiling saucepans in hell, one for the Bangladeshis, one for the Americans, and another for the Australians. All the defaulters, the sinners in the eyes of god, were being punished by being boiled. Both the American and Australian pans had a guard each in front them, while the Bangladeshi pan had none.

Why the discrepancy? The answer was that in both the American and Australian pans, people got on top of one another and they tried to push the prisoners out of the boiling water. They were helping one at a time. Really! On the other hand, whenever someone from the Bangladeshi contingent tried to go up, three or four people pulled him down together, making sure that person didn’t get out. So there was no need for a guard near the Bangladeshi saucepan.

We are very proud of the people who are earning foreign currencies for our country, in fact, we salute them. It would make us feel good if we could feel the sense of solidarity that we witness so often in other nations. It is very natural for people to go through hardship living in an unfamiliar territory.

We have seen news of passports being taken away by employers, we know they work for years without even any infrequent visit to their homeland, some even die leaving their families broke. Still, we visitors do not expect that we will be mistreated by our own countrymen in a foreign land.