Business Desk :
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) and Transparency International Malaysia (TIM) has called for public disclosure of the contents of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed recently for recruiting Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia.
In a joint statement, the two chapters urged the two governments to take all preventive measures against corruption in the recruitment process including potential syndicated control so that the interests of the workers from Bangladesh and their employers in Malaysia can be protected, Kuala Lumpur-based newspaper Malay Mail reported on Tuesday.
“Referring to recent media reports in both countries about the possibility of syndicated capture of the process of recruiting the Bangladeshi nationals who could migrate to work in Malaysia by a vested group of Bangladeshi Recruiting Agencies (BRA) in collaboration with their Malaysian cohorts, TIB and TIM expressed deep concern that the two Governments have failed to disclose the terms and conditions that they have agreed between themselves on such a subject of direct public interest,” the joint statement read in the report.
On December 19, 2021, Malaysia’s Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri M Saravanan and Bangladesh’s Expatriates’ and Overseas Welfare Minister Imran Ahmed signed the Bangladeshi workers recruitment agreement, lifting a freeze imposed since September 1, 2018 by the previous Pakatan Harapan government.
However, a move to allow only a selected group of recruiting agencies to export manpower from Bangladesh under the new agreement drew flak from recruiting agencies and other stakeholders from both countries.
“This secrecy is contradictory to both governments’ national and international commitments to control corruption and ensure public access to information,” the statement added.
“Not only that, the lack of disclosure is creating opportunity for potential syndicated capture of the recruitment process by a handful of BRAs, as widely reported in the media of both Bangladesh and Malaysia, thanks to collusion with powerful quarters in both the countries,” the anti-graft watchdog said in the statement.
Criticism rose after Malaysian Minister M Saravanan, in a letter on January 14, urged his Bangladeshi counterpart Minister for Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Imran Ahmad to initiate the process of sending workers to Malaysia through 25 Bangladesh Recruitment Agencies (BRA).
However, Imran Ahmad on January 18 responded to the Saravanan letter reiterating Bangladesh’s decision to ensure open competition in this regard.
“I want to reiterate that, Bangladesh is always in favour of transparent, fair and safe migration, as per relevant charters of International Labour Organisation (ILO), our Competition Act 2012 by keeping the opportunities open to all the valid licensed Bangladeshi Recruiting Agencies (BRA) as mentioned in Chapter C (v) and C(vi) of Appendix B of the MOU,” read Imran’s letter.
“According to the provision, the Government of Malaysia shall select BRA automatically through the online system from the list provided by the government of Bangladesh, and Government of Malaysia shall ensure transparency and fairness in the selection and distribution of quota.”
The Malaysian National Association of Private Employment Agencies also refused to own its government’s decision on recruiting manpower from Bangladesh through syndication, comprising only 25 Bangladesh Recruitment Agencies (BRA).
Similarly, Bangladeshi recruiting agencies also demanded keeping the labour market open for all valid recruiting agents to ensure fair competition through media briefings on several occasions.
