The syndicate centering the labour market in Malaysia has been “reactivated”. Under the changed context, they want to form the ring anew excluding the Awami League leaders, their beneficiaries and companies owned by them.
The owners of the recruiting agencies outside the syndicate say the syndicate has been revived at such a time when the interim government has taken an initiative of discussions to reopen the Malaysian labour market for Bangladeshis. A government delegation is likely to visit Malaysia very soon to start the discussions.
Interim government chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus is very close to Malaysia prime minister Anwar Ibrahim on personal terms. The Malaysia prime minister has already paid a visit to Bangladesh after the interim government took over. So there are hopes that the market will reopen for Bangladeshis once again.
Earlier, the syndicate had embezzled billions of taka from the recruiting process of the workers by means of irregularities and illegal business during the rule of the Bangladesh Awami League. As a result, Malaysia’s labour market was closed thrice over the past 15 years. Currently, the market remains closed since June last year.
Following the regime change, the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) launched investigations against four former lawmakers. They are – former finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, former Feni MP Nizam Uddin Hazari, Lieutenant General (retired) Masud Uddin Chowdhury and former Dhaka MP Benzir Ahmed.
However, no action has been taken against the two kingpins of the syndicate – Ruhul Amin Swapan and Aminul Islam alias Amin Nur.
The ACC said in its complaints that the highest per head cost fixed by the government to send a worker to Malaysia is Tk 78,990. However, each worker had to pay Tk 544,000 on average last year. The syndicate earned around Tk 240 billion by sending nearly 450,000 workers to Malaysia in 18 Months.
The general recruiting agency owners say Ruhul and Aminul have become active again to reform the syndicate, this time excluding the pro-Awami League persons. They are trying to include people involved with the politics of other political parties.
Former joint secretary general of the Bangladesh Association of International recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), Fakhrul Islam told Prothom Alo, "Attempts are on to reform the syndicate. Any system to pay the syndicate to send workers abroad won’t be tolerated anymore. If the interim government takes the same path, there will be an intense movement."
Memorandum placed to stop syndicate
The syndicate allows only a few recruiting agencies to send workers to Malaysia, depriving all the agencies outside the syndicate. Many of the general recruitment agencies send workers in the name of the agencies involved with the syndicate by paying them. There is no such system anywhere else in the country.
Relevant people say Bangladesh sent a list of the 1,520 recruiting agencies to Malaysia last year. Of those, only 25 agencies were given approval initially. Later, 75 more agencies got the approval in three phases. Each of these agencies had to pay a large sum to get its name in the list.
The number of agencies with government approval has further increased now. So there are fears of more corruption in the name of selection of agencies.
The Bangladeshi workers are recruited under a memorandum of understanding signed with Malaysia. It states that the Malaysian government will select the agencies from the list sent by the Bangladesh government through an automated process online.
The entire process, named Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS), is done through software named MiGRAMS, which is owned by Aminul Islam’s company Bestinet.
The agency is supposed to earn Tk 2,500 for each worker. However, there are allegations against the company that they are doing illegal business by controlling the entire process in the name of selecting the agencies.
Owners of general recruitment agencies are demanding that the relevant clause in the employment contract be amended to open up opportunities for everyone. They say as the Malaysian government has no ideas regarding Bangladeshi agencies, they should not be given the task of agency selection. They have not created any parameter for agency selection. Taking advantage of that, several Awami League leaders got the names of their agencies in the list despite getting the license for the first time.
UK citizen Andy Hall, an expert on migration and human rights in South Asia, also has raised the demand to amend the agreement.
In a statement published on his website on 7 August, Hall said “Attempts are on in Bangladesh to reform a syndicate centering the Malaysian labour market. Therefore it has become imperative to amend a few sections which allowed this syndicate to establish total control.”
BAIRA members have also made the same demand. They submitted a memorandum to the Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment, which states the syndicate of Ruhul Amin and Aminul Islam took an additional amount of Tk 107,000 from each Malaysia-bound worker last year. Steps should be taken to prevent formation of such syndicates anymore. Legal actions should be taken against Ruhul and Aminul. And all agencies should get equal opportunity to send workers to Malaysia.
Speaking to Prothom Alo, Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment joint secretary (employment sub-division), AZM Nurul Haque said, there is no opportunity to create any syndicate centering the Malaysian labour market. The ministry wants all agencies to get equal chances. The amendment of a few sections in the MoU signed by the two countries will be on the agenda during the upcoming meetings.”
Expenditure multiplies seven times due to the syndicate
Malaysia is the second largest labour market in the world at the moment. The ACC has launched investigations against four former Awami League lawmakers who were parts of this syndicate.
The ACC said in its complaints that the highest per head cost fixed by the government to send a worker to Malaysia is Tk 78,990. However, each worker had to pay Tk 544,000 on average last year. The syndicate earned around Tk 240 billion by sending nearly 450,000 workers to Malaysia in 18 Months.
The Malaysian government closed down the labour market in the face of several allegations of irregularities and corruption raised against the syndicate last year. The deadline for already approved workers to join their workplaces in Malaysia ended 31 May last year. Some 17,000 workers could not go to Malaysia despite completing all the processes within the deadline.
However, the BAIRA members say at least 50,000 workers under process were affected by the decision of the Malaysian government. Besides, there are also many cases where the workers did not get any job even after going to Malaysia. Many of them are passing days in utter misery. Many had to return empty-handed.
The BAIRA members claim that the kingpins took Tk 50 million in advance as the security money from the members of the syndicate right at the beginning last year. They are planning to take Tk 125 million from the members this time. It will be adjusted as the migration begins.
There should not be any opportunities at all to form such a syndicate in excuse of the MoU. It would be very unfortunate if workers are sent as per the previous system even during the rule of the interim government.Tasneem Siddiqui, founder chair, RMMRU
Speaking to Prothom Alo regarding the allegations, Ruhul Amin said, “The allegation of forming a syndicate is not right. It’s a rumour created by a vested quarter.”
Meanwhile, Aminul Islam could not be reached despite several attempts.
Although Ruhul Amin refuted the claims against them, owners of other agencies are saying the process of forming a new syndicate is in full swing. Already lists of potential agencies under the syndicate have been prepared. At least two such list has been found.
The syndicate became active as soon as the government took initiative to reopen the Malaysian labour market.
There should be no opportunity to create such syndicates
Sources in the expatriate welfare ministry said a meeting of the Bangladesh-Malaysia joint technical committee is scheduled to be held on 22 May in Dhaka. Besides, a top level delegation from the ministry is likely to visit Malaysia for discussion. However, the schedule has not been finalised yet.
Notably, the existing MoU between the two countries will expire after August next year. If migration of workers starts in between, then the Malaysian government will be in charge of selecting agencies. However, there are scopes to amend the concerned sections during the renewal of the MoU through negotiations.
The BAIRA members say the labour market could be reopened by changing the MoU to some extent using the good relationships between the two leaders. Keeping opportunities open for all agencies can be included in this. Malaysia takes workers from other countries in a similar way.
Tasneem Siddiqui, founder chair of the Refugee and Migratory Movement Research Unit (RMMRU), said, “The syndicate is doing business openly taking money from the poor repeatedly. There should not be any opportunities at all to form such a syndicate in excuse of the MoU.”
“It would be very unfortunate if workers are sent as per the previous system even during the rule of the interim government. Malaysia will have to take workers from Bangladesh in the similar way it does in case of other countries. The government may approach for a bilateral agreement in this regard,” he added.
* This report appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ashish Basu