POBNEWS24, Dhaka June 21, 2022 : Even after the announcement of the opening of the labor market in Malaysia, the workers did not start leaving. Despite all the decisions, Talbahana is still going on with the workers. Allegations have been made against the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and the Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia. People involved in the labor market say that this situation has arisen due to their non-cooperation.
They are ignoring the clear instructions of the Prime Minister.
At a meeting of the Joint Working Group in Dhaka on June 2, the Malaysian and Bangladesh delegations agreed on all issues related to sending workers to Malaysia. The decisions of the meeting were unanimously signed by the representatives of the two countries. Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed has announced that workers will start going to Malaysia this June. But almost three weeks after that meeting, the situation has not improved.
According to people involved in the labor market, the Malaysian employers had submitted a ‘demand letter’ to the Bangladesh High Commission. But the Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia is stipulating that in order to get medical treatment in Dhaka, the approval of the medical centers is required from the Ministry, besides the medical report has to be included in the online module of the High Commission.
People involved in the labor market claim that none of this is the work of the High Commission. These conditions are being imposed only to delay the process or to stop the immigration process. Because the two countries have agreed on all issues. Therefore, the task of the High Commission is to collect the ‘Demand Letter’ agreement from the Malaysian employers, check and sort their company profile and, if necessary, inspect the company / factory and determine the actual demand subject to satisfaction and attest the demand letter and contract to the Ministry. The Ministry will allow the concerned agency in charge to carry out the recruitment process after completion of medical and ancillary formalities.
Six months have passed since the Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the two countries on December 19. But the ministry did not take any initiative regarding the medical center. On the one hand, the Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia is saying to select the medical center before attesting the demand letter. On the other hand, the ministry is not finalizing the list. In this situation, the Malaysian government has collected information from Dhaka and nominated a medical center approved and renewed by the Department of Health and has established ‘system install’ and connection with Malaysia’s central server. Now, if the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment takes the initiative to approve new medical centers, the whole process will be delayed and the Malaysian government will have difficulty in replacing their approved medical centers with new medical center systems.
According to the concerned, the ‘system provider’ appointed by the Malaysian government has already installed all the software and tools related to the immigration process including demand letter and contract attestation at the Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia. They have long ago proposed to connect their modules with the ministry in Dhaka. The Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment has not decided on any of these issues. On the contrary, sometimes the obligation to recruit staff through data banks, sometimes random spamming and sometimes the new system of ministry has been proposed to Malaysia. It has been alleged that the High Commission and the Ministry are delaying the whole process by imposing unreasonable conditions.
Concerned people said that as a result of such activities of the ministry, Bangladesh is not ready to send workers – there is a danger of sending such a message to the Malaysian government. There is also a fear that the labor market of Bangladesh will go into the hands of other countries.
Recruiting agency owners say their ministry has issued a demand letter for the recruitment of 200,000 workers as of June 15, according to a statement from the Malaysian Ministry of Human Resources. Although Bangladesh is supposed to get a large part of it, due to our lax activities and indecision, the neighboring country is moving to 12 other ‘source countries’ including Nepal. Despite everything being finalized between the two countries, the Malaysian labor market is on the verge of collapse due to various complications, indecisiveness and bureaucratic procrastination. Therefore, in the interest of the country, it is necessary for the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment to instruct the Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia to start verification of demand letters and agreements.
