Reza Mahmud :
The critical Malaysian labour market for Bangladeshi workers has closed once again. Approximately 20,000 to 30,000 workers failed to reach Malaysia as the deadline for entering Kuala Lumpur expired on May 31. Many of these workers expressed their distress at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, describing their agonies.
Aspiring migrant workers missed the deadline due to the mismanagement and dubious dealings of a syndicate of recruiting agencies. Sazzad Hossain Sarker, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, told The New Nation, “Aspiring migrants with genuine papers could go to Malaysia in time. Those who failed to manage proper documents might not enter Kuala Lumpur.”
Stakeholders blamed the syndicate responsible for sending manpower to Malaysia for the closure of this significant labour market.
They said a syndicate of 100 recruiting agencies, led by a former Secretary General of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) and comprising four MPs’ agencies, was involved. These stakeholders alleged huge irregularities, including charging more than double the approved migration fees from migrants, which led to the market shutting down once again.
BAIRA leaders said the syndicates charged Tk 5 to 6 lakh from prospective migrants for sending them to Malaysia, ignoring the fixed charge of Tk 79,000. Sources indicated that while Malaysia declared its intention to hire five lakh workers from Bangladesh when the market reopened in 2022 after a four-year hiatus, the syndicates conducted medical check-ups for 10 lakh people, exploiting those eager to go to Malaysia for monetary gain.
The situation worsened with the issuance of fake demand letters, leaving some workers stranded as their prospective employers faced blacklisting by Malaysian authorities for corruption. Fakhrul Islam, Joint-Secretary General of BAIRA, told The New Nation, “It’s hard to count the exact number, but we estimate 20,000 to 30,000 aspirant migrants failed to leave for Malaysia by the May 31 deadline.”
Stakeholders said the very potential Malaysian labour market is now closed again for an uncertain period. However, State Minister for Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Shofiqur Rahman Chowdhury stated the market is not closed but suspended as the host country is reshuffling its foreign workers management system. BAIRA leaders disagreed with the state minister’s statement, asserting that Malaysia is annoyed with the Bangladeshi syndicate due to international agencies, including the UN, highlighting the irregularities in migration costs and the perilous situation of Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia.
On March 28, four UN experts wrote to the Bangladesh and Malaysia governments about the plight of Bangladeshi migrants in Malaysia, mentioning that each migrant spent between $4,500 and $6,000. Meanwhile, airfare prices on Dhaka-Malaysia routes have surged to four times their normal rates, with workers now forced to pay over Tk 1 lakh per ticket compared to Tk 30,000-40,000 six months ago, according to aspiring migrants.
Azhar Hossain from Natore said 24 of them, through an agency, had made an agreement with a person from Narayanganj to go to Malaysia for about Tk 6 lakh to work in a restaurant. This rise in costs has pushed migration expenses to as high as Tk 6 lakh, far exceeding the government-fixed rate of Tk 79,000.
Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister M Faruk Khan on Thursday said, “Airfares depend on supply and demand. Those involved in sending workers to Malaysia were informed one month ago that May 31 was the deadline. However, neither recruiting agencies nor other suppliers acted on this. Bangladesh Biman operates three to four flights to Malaysia daily to tackle the situation.”
BAIRA leaders and related sources said significant amounts of money might have been siphoned off as the syndicates did not declare their extra earnings from the migrants and did not pay taxes. “The syndicates earned five times more than the government-fixed migration costs. Where did they keep that money? They obviously did not declare these earnings or pay taxes. They might have siphoned the money abroad. The government agencies should investigate this,” BAIRA Joint Secretary General Fakhrul Islam said.
