Bangladesh wants to rehaul MoU on its workers to get rid of ‘syndicate'
PETALING JAYA : An adviser to Bangladesh's expatriates' welfare and overseas employment ministry wants an overhaul of the agreement made with Malaysia on the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers to get rid of the 'syndicate' system.
Asif Nazrul said failure to amend the agreement could see the country impose a moratorium on sending its nationals over to Malaysia, the country's The Daily Star reported.
Asif said Bangladesh's previous government had signed an agreement which stipulated that a list of recruiting agencies be provided for Malaysia to select from.
He said this formal agreement between the two parties was akin to a 'syndicate'.
'Now that we've taken over, everyone is saying the syndicate system must be abolished,' Asif was quoted as saying, referring to the interim government under Muhammad Yunus.
He said to get rid of the syndicate system, the agreement between Bangladesh and Malaysia needed to be amended.
However, he conceded that they could not 'force Malaysia to change' the agreement.
'If they refuse, we have two options – follow their terms and send workers through 25, 50 or 100 agencies, or stop sending workers altogether,' Asif said.
He said Malaysia is expected to recruit 30,000 to 40,000 workers from Bangladesh over the next year.
In May, former Klang MP Charles Santiago told FMT that Malaysia and Bangladesh must discuss putting an end to cartels in the labour recruitment market.
Santiago said the current system and processes needed to be reformed, referring to the way recruitment agents allegedly linked to cartels operated by charging fees as high as RM20,000 for Bangladeshi workers to work in Malaysia.
In 2021, Malaysia and Bangladesh signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers. It was effective for five years until December 2026.
It was signed by then human resources minister M Saravanan and Bangladesh's expatriates' welfare and overseas employment minister Imran Ahmad.
Saravanan had then said that the MoU outlined the responsibilities of the Malaysian employers, the workers from Bangladesh as well as the duties of private employment agencies in both countries.
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