Recruiters call Malaysian criteria ‘Unrealistic’

Reza Mahmud :

Bangladesh’s interim government has announced that it has opened new avenues for Bangladeshi recruiting agencies to send workers to Malaysia, aiming to ensure fair participation and equal opportunity alongside other labour-sending nations. However, local agencies say the newly imposed Malaysian selection criteria are “unrealistic” and will exclude the majority of Bangladeshi recruiters from participating.

According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment on Wednesday, the government has requested Malaysian authorities to include all recruiting agencies holding valid licenses in the selection process, thereby broadening the scope of participation.

Previously, Bangladeshi recruiting agencies had limited access compared to their counterparts from other labour-sending countries. The move follows the 3rd Bangladesh-Malaysia Joint Working Group meeting held in Dhaka on May 21-22, where both sides held extensive discussions. At that meeting, the Malaysian delegation pledged to establish transparent and uniform criteria for the selection of private recruiting agencies. When contacted, Mohammed Fakhrul Islam former Joint Secretary General-1, BAIRA

and Managing Partner, Human Resource Development Center, told The New Nation on Wednesday, “There is no new scope for all recruiting agencies to send manpower to Malaysia.”
He said the Bangladesh government has to start negotiation with Kuala Lumpur immediately to ease their conditions.

Sources said Malaysia on October 28 formally shared with Dhaka a document titled “Recruiting Agent Selection Criteria.” The criteria, which Malaysia said would also apply to other labour-sending countries including India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Myanmar, set out ten conditions that recruiting agencies must fulfill to qualify.

Under the Malaysian guidelines, a recruiting agency must have at least five years of operational experience, must have deployed a minimum of 3,000 workers abroad in the past five years, and must have sent workers to at least three different countries. Agencies are also required to possess a valid government license, maintain training and assessment facilities, and hold a certificate of good conduct.

Additionally, each agency must submit testimonials from at least five international employers, operate from a permanent office space measuring no less than 10,000 square feet, and demonstrate full compliance with the employment laws of destination countries.

The Bangladesh government has said it will request Malaysia to enlist all valid license-holding agencies that meet these conditions. Eligible agencies have been asked to submit applications, along with supporting documents, to the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment by November 7.

However, Bangladeshi recruiting agencies have voiced strong concerns over the new criteria, calling them impractical and exclusionary. They argue that the Malaysian conditions favor only a small, pre-selected group of agencies and effectively reintroduce a syndicate-style system under a different name.

“The ten new criteria are mostly unrealistic,” said one recruiter. “No Bangladeshi agency needs a 10,000-square-foot office to operate-it’s extremely expensive and unnecessary. Even our own government approves agencies with offices as small as 600 square feet. Malaysian recruiting firms themselves don’t maintain offices of that size.”

Recruiters further noted that the condition requiring deployment of 3,000 workers in the past five years is unfair, given that Bangladesh’s manpower export to Malaysia remained heavily restricted for much of the past decade. They said that a limited number of agencies-often referred to as a “syndicate”-monopolized the recruitment process to Malaysia, leaving most licensed agencies without access.

Moreover, they pointed out that the global labour market disruptions and limited demand from several key destinations, such as Saudi Arabia, hindered worker deployment. “Many Bangladeshi agencies could not send workers to Saudi Arabia because they were not listed with the Saudi Embassy,” one agency owner said. “At the same time, labour migration to other Middle Eastern countries also slowed down.”

Industry insiders added that the requirement for agencies to have experience sending workers to at least three different countries, as well as testimonials from five international employers, is “impractical and unnecessary.”

“These are conditions that even many reputable agencies in Malaysia or other countries may struggle to meet,” another recruiter said. “Such terms will only benefit a handful of agencies who already control the market. It’s simply a new version of the old syndicate.”

While the Bangladesh government has welcomed Malaysia’s decision to formalize recruitment guidelines, many in the sector fear that unless the criteria are revised, the promise of “equal opportunity” will remain theoretical.

Stakeholders have urged the government to engage further with Malaysian authorities to ensure that the criteria are realistic and inclusive, allowing participation from all qualified Bangladeshi agencies.

“The goal should be to ensure transparency and fair access for all,” one industry leader remarked. “Otherwise, workers and genuine agencies will both lose out once again.”