Malaysia will decide how many recruiting agencies can send Bangladeshi workers: Minister

The decision regarding the number of recruiting agencies involved in the process of sending Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia will be taken by the receiving country, visiting  Malaysian Human Resources Minister M Saravanan has said. 

"Our cabinet will take the decision," Malaysian Human Resources Minister M Saravanan told journalists at the capital's Probashi Kallyan Bhaban on Thursday (2 June).

He came to Dhaka on Wednesday night to attend the joint working group meeting between both countries. The meeting is ongoing at the ministry.   

According to a report by the MalayMail, Saravanan will reportedly be met with a protest by labour recruiters in Bangladesh during his visit, due to the Malaysian government's decision to limit the number of recruiters allowed to send Bangladeshi labourers to Malaysia. 

Saravanan, who is leading a Malaysian delegation for a Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting in Dhaka Thursday, said he is personally unafraid of any protest reportedly planned by Bangladeshi labour recruiters unhappy with Malaysia's restrictions.

"I am not afraid. The more they threaten, the more I will ban!" he stressed.

Members of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) have reportedly threatened to turn up at the JWG meeting in burial shrouds in protest against Putrajaya's stand that only 25 recruitment agencies and 250 sub-agents will be permitted to send workers to Malaysia.

However, a group of recruiters protest against the syndicate on Thursday before the national press club. Earlier, they held a press conference.

"We wanted to arrange the programme before Probashi Kallyan Bhaban where JWG meeting is going on. But we didn't get permission," said Shamim Ahmed Chowdhury Noman, a recruiting agency leader.

The demand for Bangladeshi workers is not as high as it used to be as some sectors have turned to other nationalities for their manpower needs,  Minister M Saravanan said before arriving in Dhaka, reported Malaysia's The Star newspaper. 

Separately, he questioned the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira)'s criticism of Malaysia's proposal to appoint only 25 Bangladesh Recruitment Agencies and 250 sub-agents.

"Baira should thank me that I increased it from 10 to 25," he said, asking why they were not making similar demands to Singapore.

Meanwhile, Baira called for the Malaysian government to allow all 1,530 of its members to send workers to Malaysia. It claimed that Malaysia's proposal to appoint only 25 Bangladeshi agencies and 250 sub-agents had stalled the hiring process.

Baira's immediate past secretary-general Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman said allowing only a select number of agencies to send workers to Malaysia would create a monopoly or recruitment syndicate, which will increase migration cost and various other irregularities, as seen previously under the old MoU, in which only 10 agencies were appointed.

This monopoly led to allegations of malpractice in the recruitment process including high costs faced by migrant workers to get jobs, leading the then Pakatan Harapan government to suspend the application for employment of Bangladesh foreign workers starting September 2018.

Saravanan reportedly said in January that he only appointed 25 agencies and 250 sub-agents instead of the close to 1,600 agencies as Baira requested because he did not want Malaysia to be turned into a "dumping ground".

Malaysia's door to Bangladesh workers has been closed since 2018, following syndicated manpower recruitment by 10 Bangladeshi agencies since 2015. Local recruiters claim the same group is now actively lobbying both at home and abroad so that Dhaka eventually agrees to Kuala Lumpur's proposal.  

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

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

Responding to the letter, Bangladesh sent a letter to the Malaysian government, reiterating its position against any syndication, which was lauded by Bangladeshi recruiters.

Malaysia has in principle reopened its labour market with the MoU after stopping taking workers from Bangladesh for three years since 2018.