Deal to cut costs of labour migration to Malaysia

Bangladeshi jobseekers are most likely to be able to go to Malaysia at much lower costs, thanks to a bilateral agreement that both nations are set to sign.
A government delegation is due in the Malaysian capital next week to finalise the fine prints of the memorandum of understanding (MOU), likely to be signed after approval from the Malaysian cabinet.
“We are now looking into finalising the MOU and hope to sign it as soon as possible,” Malaysia's Human Resource Minister S Subramaniam told reporters in Putrajaya yesterday, as cited in a Bernama report.
Malaysia plans to allow in Bangladeshi workers by December this year under a government-to-government mechanism, Subramaniam said.
The pact would drastically cut down the migration costs from the prevalent Tk 2 lakh and above, it is understood.
Expatriates Welfare Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain indicated the costs would not be more than Tk 40,000 each.
The minister's disclosure came after the visit of a Malaysian delegation to Dhaka to hold talks on resumption of hiring from Bangladesh in state arrangements.
There has been a hiring freeze from Bangladesh from early 2009 following reports of labour exploitation arising due to malpractices in the recruitment process.
The ban impacted Bangladesh's remittance earnings, which stands at $12 billion a year at present, approximately 10 percent of the country's GDP.
Prior to the hiring freeze, the Bangladesh government fixed the migration cost for a job seeker at Tk 84,000.
But local recruiting agents charged much higher on grounds of high costs arising out of corruption for work permit procurement.
The presence of middlemen also pushes up the costs of migration.
The middlemen, in exchange for a sizable commission, broker the arrangement between the Bangladeshi jobseekers and Malaysian employers.
“The bilateral deal will reduce scope for visa trading to a great extent,” said Prof Tasneem Siddique, founding chair of Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit, while suggesting ensuring the new recruitment process is free from political influence and middlemen.
With regards to government plans to open an online database for jobseekers in Malaysia, she suggested passing on the responsibility of implementing the project to NGOs and other civil society bodies.
“If employers in Malaysia provide the plane fare and the Malaysian government does not charge any levy, costs will fall further," said Shamsun Nahar, director general of Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET), Dhaka's regulatory authority for overseas labour affairs.
By how much the costs will fall will be determined upon the signing of the agreement, Nahar said.
"We will negotiate with our Malaysian counterpart over them," said Nahar, while adding that the amount Hossain had earlier disclosed was inclusive of the air fare.
Ali Haider Chowdhury, the general secretary of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies, said the migration cost will drop if the work permit procurement process becomes more transparent and streamlined.
“If employers pay plane fares and other service charges, cost for a worker may drop to Tk 15,000-20,000,” he added.