The Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) called for urgent reforms in the country's migrant worker recruitment process, highlighting a critical issue impacting Bangladeshi workers' migration to Malaysia.
During a press conference on Thursday, BAIRA's Joint-Secretary General Fakhrul Islam expressed concern over a 101-member syndicate of recruiting agencies that has monopolised the worker migration process.
He urged both the Bangladeshi and Malaysian governments to act against the syndicate and only allow legitimate recruiting agencies to send workers to Malaysia. Fakhrul also called for punitive measures against the syndicate, which he blamed for damaging the manpower market.
According to the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET), although the Malaysian government approved only 101 Bangladeshi recruiting agencies to send workers to Malaysia, the Bangladeshi government allowed an additional 735 agencies to collaborate with the approved ones.
This has led to inflated costs for migrants, with the syndicate charging each intending worker between Tk 5 lakh to Tk 7 lakh, significantly more than the official costs of visa processing and migration fees.
Fakhrul revealed that the syndicate laundered approximately Tk 24,000 crore through these inflated fees. He questioned the legitimacy of these charges, as the actual costs should have been much lower.
He pointed out that each worker could have migrated to Malaysia for only Tk 3.5 lakh had the process been handled by the approved agencies without the syndicate's interference.
The syndicate's manipulation of the system led Malaysia to halt the recruitment of workers from Bangladesh on 31 May. While the Malaysian job market for Bangladeshi workers has since reopened, Fakhrul warned that the syndicate continues to lobby Malaysian authorities to maintain their control over the process.
Fakhrul blamed several prominent figures, including former MPs Masud Uddin Chowdhury, Nizam Uddin Hazari, AHM Mostafa Kamal, and Benazir Ahmed, for creating and supporting the syndicate. He urged the government to take swift action to restore fairness to the recruitment process and protect the interests of migrant workers.
Other BAIRA leaders, including Reaz Ul Islam and Khandker Abu Ashfaq, were also present at the press conference.BAIRA welcomed Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's one-day visit to Bangladesh.
