Streamlining manpower export sector

The Malaysian Home Minister's assurance of regularising illegal Bangladeshi workers in his country does, no doubt, reflect strong goodwill Kuala Lumpur has for Dhaka. After holding a meeting with the Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister last Monday, he indicated the possibilities for wider job opportunities for the Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia. So far so good at a time when employment opportunities in other countries in the Middle East or elsewhere have virtually shrunk either due to internal problems of the host countries or owing to lack of intensified drive for exploring job markets abroad or for reasons of other irritants.

Meanwhile, some private recruiting agencies in Bangladesh have, as was reported in the FE last Sunday, stepped up lobbying to scuttle the existing government-to-government (G-to-G) system for manpower export to Malaysia. There is no denying that the recruiting agencies were instrumental in boosting the country's manpower export. Such agencies spent a substantial amount of money for overseas trips by their representatives to explore the prospects for the Bangladeshi workers' jobs and made strenuous efforts to come to agreements with employers of a good number of the host countries. That was exactly why manpower export today has emerged as the second biggest foreign exchange earner after the readymade garments, in gross aggregate terms.

However, the government's valid concerns over high migration costs as well as unsafe job placements in many cases must also be equally taken note of, in a positive perspective. It is duty-bound to safeguard and guarantee the workers' interests, more so in view of many tragic incidents involving many Bangladeshi migrant workers and their miserable plight in a number of countries. In this context, the G-to-G system has largely been welcomed as the employers in several countries like Malaysia have been insisting upon putting it in place. Such a system is intended to provide otherwise a shield against malpractices and harassment by a section of unscrupulous recruiting agencies, in league with their overseas fraudulent partners. But sadly, Bangladesh appears to be set to miss the bus due to bureaucratic tangles. Only 3,000 workers could go to Malaysia officially so far, although the demand was much higher. Relevant officials and employees of the government have furthermore been reported to be prone to corruption. As a result, real migration cost stands at a much higher level than what was or is officially considered to be reasonable, under the G-to-G system. The G-to-G system can still be there in place but honest private sector agencies, having a better track record about their performance, should equally be engaged for the purpose.

The expatriate welfare and overseas employment ministry is expected to frame well-knit guidelines for the private sector manpower exporters to follow, in matters of completing their task of recruitment. The ministry should take tough steps to ensure that such agencies do their job in a transparent manner, shunning all irregularities. The nexus between any errant private sector recruiting agency and the corrupt section of the officialdom must be  broken. A relatively hassle-free system needs to be evolved for the purpose. Unless dynamism is injected into the manpower export sector with private sector involvement to take advantage of its experience and efficiency, the country is likely to find it difficult to keep the golden goose alive to lay golden eggs. The imperatives for pro-active measures by the government on this count can hardly be over-emphasised because the overseas workers' remittances have already emerged as the lifeblood of the Bangladesh economy.