Illegal trips to Malaysia

THE recent attack on Malaysia bound trawler carrying over 300 Bangladeshis illegally caused death and injuries as well an embarrassment to the country.
Traffickers, reportedly, lured these Bangladeshis from different districts with job prospect in Malaysia and took Tk. 30,000 per person. It shows that the so-called merchants of manpower have a wide network around the country and they are cashing in on the ordinary people's craving for jobs at grave risk daring misadventures.
In recent times trafficking through Bay of Bengal has largely been targeted to Malaysia. Experts say such a preference is contingent upon the snail paced G2G process of sending manpower to Malaysia. There is a large demand of workers in Malaysia and our compatriots are longing for availing themselves of that opportunity. But the government controlled manpower export process is too slow to meet the pace of demand. The traffickers are exploiting this weakness and duping expectant migrants.
The solution lies in making the formal channels of manpower export smooth and fast track. The authorities have been repeatedly advised to devise a system where private manpower exporters can complement the G2G process. Time has come to pay heed to this advice seriously.
Next, people should be made aware about the hazards of trafficking. The awareness building programmes should be taken down to the grass roots level whilst the government takes stern action against traffickers and their local aides.
Lastly, this illegal business has been happening in collusion with transnational criminals. So this issue should be discussed at the regional forums so that a comprehensive action plan can be adopted to stop such brutal trading in human life.