Malaysia's labor market is finally opening up after overcoming various obstacles. The Malaysian government has indicated that it will start hiring workers after a long shutdown. If everything goes well, Malaysia will allow workers to be sent within the next two months. However, a source confirmed that this immense potential is trapped in a web of difficult conditions.

The Malaysian Ministry of Human Resources has sent a letter to the Bangladesh Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment to send a list of recruiting agencies by November 7, including 10 conditions. At the same time, it has been asked to comply with the conditions and also send record sheets.

The letter warns that any agency that resorts to lies will be blacklisted forever.

Meanwhile, a section of manpower exporters have demanded the lifting of the conditions imposed for sending workers to the Malaysian labor market.

They submitted a memorandum to Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Advisor Asif Nazrul on Thursday afternoon, calling these conditions 'unreasonable' and 'purposeful'.

The agreement was signed by former president of the Manpower Exporters' Organization Bayra MH Selim, senior vice president Riaz-ul-Islam, joint secretaries general Fakhrul Islam, Akbar Hossain Manju, executive members Haque Zahirul Joe, Kamal Uddin, and Sports, Entertainment and Cultural Secretary Rehena Parveen.

'Ten-condition trap' in new rules

The Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment of Bangladesh will request all recruiting agencies in countries that meet these 10 conditions given by Malaysia to be listed for sending workers. For this, all agencies that are able to meet the conditions must apply by November 7.

These conditions include a 10,000 square foot office, five years of experience, experience sending 3,000 workers in five years, running a business for three years, five employer testimonials, and having a training center in your name.

In addition, recruiting agencies must have their own training and assessment centers, housing facilities, and must submit certificates of good conduct, valid licenses, and proof of legal activities.

In addition, it must be clarified that many of those who sent workers to Malaysia have other cases, including money laundering.

In response to these conditions, a memorandum issued by a section of manpower exporters stated, "Every condition published in the notification is purposeful, conspiratorial, unrealistic and unacceptable."

This section of former Bayra leaders comments, "In Malaysia, we have been sending millions of workers to various sectors without any conditions from 1991 to 2016. From 2017, illegal syndicates, discrimination, exploitation and looting of thousands of crores of taka began.

"Every recruiting agency in the country has received a license by fulfilling all the criteria or conditions of the Bangladesh government. We have been sending workers all over the world. No country has ever imposed such conditions."

The memorandum states that due to the Covid pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, the Malaysian labor market syndicate, the lack of registration of numerous agencies with the Saudi embassy, ​​and the suspension of sending workers to various Middle Eastern countries including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Iraq, Libya, and Oman, most recruiting agencies have not been able to send the desired number of workers in the last 5-6 years.

Most agencies will struggle to meet the conditions

According to the recruitment agency owners' association Bayra, there are currently about 2,500 legal recruitment agencies in the country. But 95 percent of the agencies find it impossible to meet the new conditions imposed by Malaysia.

According to them, "A 10,000 square foot office in Dhaka means a monthly rent of more than one lakh taka, which is only affordable for large agencies. For small agencies, operating this office for 3 consecutive years, despite the collective presence of the Baira Training Center, the condition of a private training center is an unrealistic and very expensive one; which is not realistic but a tool to increase immigration costs."

According to the petitioners, 'not a single' Malaysian C license holder has a 10,000 square foot office. Even in countries that supply labor, including Nepal, Pakistan, India, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Indonesia, no 10,000 square foot office is operated.

A Bayra leader, who did not want to be named, said, "We have seen the documents. The conditions are quite tough. Workers will have to be sent as per the MoU with Malaysia. The government will decide who will be sent there. If the government sends the list strictly following the conditions, it will be the old syndicate situation in a new guise. We want the Malaysian labor market to start. The government should relax the conditions through quick discussions."

101 agencies send workers at different times

Under an agreement between the Malaysian government and Bangladesh, 10 designated recruiting agencies used to send workers to the country until 2016. The Malaysian labor market was closed in September 2018 after allegations that these 10 recruiting agencies formed a syndicate and engaged in corruption.

After the ACC investigation, it declared the investigation closed after finding no evidence of the allegations. Similarly, the Malaysian government, after a detailed investigation, submitted a report to Parliament stating that the allegations were not true.

Based on the investigation, the ACC said that the government-set cost for sending workers to Malaysia was 79,000 taka per person. But an average Bangladeshi worker has to spend 544,000 taka to go to Malaysia. Of this, 167,500 taka is for syndicated agencies.

Later, Bangladesh and Malaysia signed a new MoU in 2021, in the wake of the movement to keep it open to all agencies.

In this agreement, the syndicate of 10 agencies was broken up and initially 25 agencies were given responrsibility as per the Malaysian conditions. A new syndicate was also formed there. This syndicate started to control the entire process of sending Malaysian workers. Later, the number of recruiting agencies was increased to 101.

According to sources, the last worker went to Malaysia on May 31 last year. Although all the documents were in order, about 17,000 workers could not go to Malaysia at the last minute. Of them, 7,823 were initially selected by the Malaysian government.

Besides, other labor markets were closed at different times. Like other countries including Saudi Arabia, workers went to Malaysia with clearances from the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment and BMET.

Claiming that such a process is being carried out to hand over the Malaysian labor market back to the syndicates, a section of former BAIRA leaders say, "This is a new method of syndicating. These conditions do not have any interest of the workers going abroad involved."

One side tries to defeat the other

Several leaders of Bayra said that various kinds of entanglements are being created by giving priority to who has done business with the recruiting agency and who has not. Many people are getting involved in this.

This huge labor market will be opened by prioritizing the protection and interests of workers by prioritizing the policies of the governments of the two countries rather than giving special importance to the interests of businessmen. This will benefit the government and the country. The flow of remittances into the country will increase.

As a regulatory authority, the government or ministry cannot bring business or work to anyone. A section of businessmen, unable to survive the competition and considering the regulatory body and ministry weak, go to the ministry and create chaos and chaos.

Besides, it is not the job of the ministry of that country, not only Bangladesh, to collect work or bring work to a recruiting agency in any country. This has to be done by the respective agency. The government will give permission to send workers to the agencies that will bring work from abroad. However, instead of going abroad, bringing work there, and building any kind of infrastructure, a group of businessmen sit in the country, organize human chains, hold press conferences, give memorandums, hold seminars and talk shows, and blame others.

This culture of blaming has led to lawsuits after the July Revolution. In some cases, some businessmen have filed lawsuits against others, misinforming the government. On the other hand, various government agencies are also filing lawsuits on various allegations or by bringing allegations on their own initiative. These lawsuits and other processes are seriously damaging the labor market.

Some analysts associated with the labor market told this reporter that to solve the problem, the governments of Bangladesh and Malaysia should strictly monitor the activities of recruiting agencies so that workers are not cheated. Those who continue to commit these crimes should be brought under strict laws.

They also said that a list of brokers who are defrauding simple people in rural areas should be prepared and initiatives should be taken to arrest them. If they cannot be prevented, these problems will continue to increase. Bangladesh's reputation will be damaged. However, most agencies will not be able to meet the conditions set by Malaysia.

They demanded that the conditions be lifted and that all recruiting agencies be allowed to send workers, with the government agency Boesel as the main agent if necessary.

Malaysia ranks fourth in exports

Sources said that Malaysia started taking workers from Bangladesh in 1976. More than 16 million workers have gone to different countries from Bangladesh till 2023. Malaysia is the fourth country in the list of manpower exports from Bangladesh.

It is worth noting that the Malaysian government has started approving quotas in favor of various countries for the purpose of recruiting foreign workers in the industrial, service sectors, and especially in the plantation and agricultural sectors.

If Bangladesh can seize this opportunity, at least 1.2 million more workers will come in, 200,000 at a time, over the next six years. As a result, remittances from Malaysia will reach 5 billion US dollars annually.

Meanwhile, remittance inflows have increased significantly due to the migration of workers to Malaysia during the 2022-24 period. Remittances in the first six months of the current 2024-25 fiscal year amounted to 1.51 billion US dollars, compared to 1.21 billion US dollars in the previous fiscal year 2021-22.

As such, Bayra expects the amount of remittances received from Malaysia to reach US$3 billion by the end of the current fiscal year.