Employment group urges against limited agencies for Bangladesh workers
Papsma president Megat Fairouz Junaidi Megat Junid said in a statement his group would like to request the government not to delay the entry process of Bangladeshi workers anymore as they are now ready with the skills, work experience and adaptive skills.
“Papasma does not want Malaysia to...
National Association Of Private Employment Agencies Malaysia (Papsma) is calling on the Malaysian government not to limit the entry of foreign workers from Bangladesh to a few agencies but to include all members of Baira (Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agents).
Papsma president Megat Fairouz Junaidi Megat Junid said in a statement his group would like to request the government not to delay the entry process of Bangladeshi workers anymore as they are now ready with the skills, work experience and adaptive skills.
“Papasma does not want Malaysia to return to the era from 2015 to 2017, where only 10 Bangladeshi employment agencies were selected, which caused many issues and problems with complications until the Malaysian government banned the entry of Bangladeshi workers into the country in 2017,” he said.
According to Megat Fairouz, among the issues identified in that era were:
1) Bangladeshi workers were charged a high cost of entry into Malaysia of up to RM20,000 even though the government and workers were initially told that the cost was cheap and low.
The Bangladeshi agencies involved reaped such high profits and when the migrant workers arrived in Malaysia they absconded from their legitimate employers as they could not afford to pay the debts incurred for coming to work in Malaysia.
This has resulted in many employers paying the levy costs and other obligatory expenses and finally suffering huge losses as a result of decisions made by the Malaysian government at the time.
2) These selected agencies collect money from the migrant workers to meet the needs of certain dignitaries for the purpose of lobbying in the business of importing workers.
Such a thing could damage Malaysia, which is now ranked on the third tier in the International Labour Organization’s international category of Forced Labour Migrants, which could affect the country’s identity and image in the eyes of the world.
3) Many GLCs and industries in Malaysia have already suffered losses, protests from foreign countries and had been fined millions of ringgit for being found guilty of forced labour, non-ethical recruitment and violating the code of conduct on environmental, social, and governance.
‘Why only Bangladesh?’
Megat Fairouz also claimed that agencies involved in the post-2015 era were expected to be on the same list of agencies that will be selected by Malaysia for the purpose of recruiting Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia.
“Papsma does not understand why only Bangladesh needs special agencies for the purpose of their employment compared to all other source countries even though Bangladesh was chosen to be in the category of source countries in Malaysia over the past few years,” he added.
On Friday, Human Resources Minister M Saravanan said that the Malaysian cabinet will make a final decision on the number of Bangladesh recruitment agencies permitted to send their citizens as workers here.
He told journalists in Dhaka, Bangladesh, that a final decision on this issue, which raised protests from labour recruiters, lay in the hands of the receiving countries.
Saravanan said Malaysia is in dire need of workers while Bangladesh has an excess number to send out, so it is beneficial to expedite the process after resolving all outstanding matters.
Baira secretary-general Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury confirmed his members had reiterated their call for an “open market” as practised with 13 other countries sending migrant workers to Malaysia.
Both countries signed a memorandum of agreement last December to lift the embargo on labour supply from Bangladesh to Malaysia for all sectors but the recruitment process is still pending.
The embargo was imposed by the Pakatan Harapan government on Sept 1, 2018.
