The much-talked-about G-to-G (government to government) deal on export of manpower to Malaysia is stuck, as though in deep sludge. The indications are clear that the loud promises made by the government, especially the Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment minister, has failed to materialise and there is little to inspire hope that the deal worked out so zealously is going to deliver the least of what was expected. Worse, a lack of coordination between the designated agencies of the two governments has allegedly pushed things to where they are now - a total stalemate.
At home, the row over manpower export between the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment and the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) is well known. It sparked soon after the deal got inked between the government of Malaysia and the government of Bangladesh in September 2012. The reasons, however, were not too far-fetched to discern. As the platform of the country's private recruiters, BAIRA is not likely to feel comfortable with the government's move to take a juicy chunk out of what it considered its own pie. The government's stand at that time looked convincing as the G-to-G arrangement was presented to the nation as the most viable, cost-effective and efficient method of recruiting overseas jobseekers. This augured well in view of the incidents of increasing number of jobseekers being routinely lured and tricked by private recruiters and more often than not, taken for the most unholy of rides. In fact, it was the government's intent to put a halt on fraud and swindling that drew support from most quarters, although there were doubts as to the competence of government agencies to handle the task. And in the process, the voice of disgruntled BAIRA got muted for the time being.
But what has happened over the last one and a half years is pathetically gloomy, for the jobseekers themselves as well as the country. At a time when temporary workers' migration is experiencing a decline in some of the major migrant workers' destinations in the Gulf States, the promise of Malaysia taking a large pool of workers looked lucrative indeed to sustain the much needed flow of the country's overseas workers' remittances. Initially, the government had announced that 500 thousand workers would be sent to Malaysia in five years' time and that it would facilitate movement of at least 100 thousand annually, at an affordable cost. But the ground reality is that in the past one and a half years, only 4530 people have gone.
It is by now well known that despite the pious intent of relieving the workers of much of their plight at a reduced cost with welfare benefits in their workplaces, the results so far have remained far short of what was desired. The slow and lacklustre move has already dampened the confidence of the jobseekers in the government channel. As a result, desperate groups are seen either being drowned in the deep seas or detained in foreign custody. This has also provided the unscrupulous private recruiters the chance to regain their stronghold on the easy catches, who, disillusioned by the G-to-G, are now more frantic than ever in trying their luck through whatever means.
That the government had caused a great stir among the jobseekers is evident from the fact that as many as 1.4 million people got themselves registered to go to Malaysia on employment through government channels. Of them, 11,538 were selected through lottery to go in the first phase. But things got stuck as there was no worthwhile forward move since then. Private sector manpower exporters are now putting the blame squarely on the government. According to them, as reported in a recent media report, a total of 400 thousand people went to Malaysia in the years 2007 and 2008 through private channels, which, in other words, demonstrates the competence of the private exporters.
Buying this argument on its face value may be too simplistic as the G-to-G is an elaborate and comprehensive mechanism between the two governments whereby not only the movement of job-seeking workers is to be facilitated but also the entire process of temporary workers' migration is to be streamlined once and for all. But since the system has failed to deliver so far, there is virtually nothing the government can stick to as it defence.
From the reports in the media it appears that the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment is not happy with its Malaysian counterpart for not acting as promptly and decisively as it should have. The expatriates' welfare and overseas employment minister, himself frustrated, has been reported as saying that Malaysia so far sent demand note for only 10 thousand workers. This, understandably, has caused the main bottleneck top processing the cases of the registered job seekers.
The recent visit to Dhaka by a high-level Malaysian delegation, led by the country's human resource minister, seems to have eased the current stand-off, though not in very clear terms. The delegation has assured the Bangladesh authorities that Malaysia would take workers in almost all sectors, especially in construction, services and manufacturing. But the delegation did not indicate any roadmap, which for obvious reasons has not gone well to address the ongoing crisis.
Now, it remains to be seen whether it is the G-to-G that should be recast in order that movement of workers can go unhindered. The decision to canalise manpower export to Malaysia through respective official channels of the two governments was thought to be a one-time, temporary arrangement - a 'test case' whereby the procedures could be set right for the private exporters to follow. But this does not seem to be the case as the expatriates' welfare and overseas employment minister in a meeting with the BAIRA representatives mentioned the other day that there exists no scope to send manpower to Malaysia through private channels, as per the agreement with Malaysia.
The very idea underlying the G-to-G was to ease the temporary migration of workers in a way that would not only render their movement affordable but also take care of their employment conditions while abroad as well as all other perks they are entitled to under terms of their employment contracts. But with very little progress so far, isn't it time the authorities at both ends looked at the issue in a more pragmatic manner?
wasiahmed.bd@hotmail.com
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