Malaysia reopens market for Bangladeshi workers
It is welcome news that Malaysia is going to officially withdraw its ban on recruiting Bangladeshi workers after a lull that lasted four years. But more welcome than that is the fact that workers hoping to work in the Malaysian labour market may not be fleeced as before. As per newspaper reports, the government-to-government agreement allows for job seekers to pay maximum Tk40,000 to avail work opportunity in Malaysia.
Thus, the State-to-State agreement envisages significant cost savings for expatriate workers. Although the date for resumption of recruitment by Malaysia is yet to be announced, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has officially been signed by the two governments. The next step of course will test the mettle of the government. According to the MoU signed in Malaysia, the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) will act as regulatory authority for overseas labour affairs. It will fall upon BMET to manage the entire recruitment process with the sole aim of preventing malpractice that had cost us the lucrative Malaysian labour market in the first place. To what extent this body will be able to check corrupt practices will in the long run decide the important issue of whether government-to-government labour recruitment arrangement is a workable model for replication.
The BMET now has its job cut out. The ministry of overseas labour affairs must undertake serious efforts to increase manpower and efficiency of BMET so that it may discharge its duties as 'regulator' in an exemplary fashion. It cannot be emphasised enough how important it is for this arrangement to work. Not only will it address the irregularities associated with recruitment that has earned Bangladesh a bad name in some overseas labour markets, but it will, in the long run, help reform the manpower export sector which makes significant contribution in terms foreign exchange earnings for the country.
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