BAIRA opposes state-to-state arrangement
Saturday, 22 September 2012
The Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) threatens to close business if the government does not rescind its decision to send workers from Bangladesh to Malaysia under the proposed state-to-state arrangement. They complain that the government's track records in sending workers to the South-east Asian nations such as Malaysia and South Korea are not particularly sound either. They have even levelled a charge of launching a misleading propaganda aimed at undermining manpower agents against the ministry concerned. By all accounts, though, they seem to have overreacted to the government move. Private manpower recruitment agencies have surely a role to play in getting jobs abroad for the country's millions of youths. The Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) and the Bangladesh Overseas Employment Services Ltd (BOESL) alone cannot handle the pressure of recruitment of all the job-seekers abroad. They are not adequately equipped to accomplish the task.
The fact is that the government has sought to take the responsibility of just one single country. Why should the BAIRA take umbrage against the authorities and oppose such a decision? One understands that members of the association will not get a share of the recruitment business with Malaysia. They have the wide world to do their business. The problem with them is that they themselves feel threatened because of the proposed low migration cost under the state-to-state arrangement. Unmindful of the high migration cost they charge, the proposed rate will definitely dent their business elsewhere as well. It is this consideration that has made them nervous. The expatriate welfare and overseas employment minister has moreover stated that the migration cost will come down to Tk 20,000, just half the rate of Tk 40,000, if the receiving country provided plane fares for workers. If this is so, the government initiatives will further expose the exorbitant recruitment charges claimed by manpower exporting agencies.
There are even stronger reasons for finalising a deal between the two countries at the state level. The saga of mass deportation of Bangladeshi workers because of illegal status was about to sour relations between the two countries. It is common knowledge who the people were responsible for this. Both Bangladesh and Malaysia are careful to avoid any repeat of that horrendous event. Whether the ministry, the BMET and the BOESL will be able to take the necessary precaution in making the recruitment process flawless is yet to be known. They should be aware that the stake is high in this case. They must do all they can to make the procedures foolproof in the interest of the confidence Malaysia has lately reposed in Bangladesh's ability to become a source country for that country's manpower need. All such considerations, of necessity, might have prompted the government not to leave the responsibility of sending workers in private hands. Now the authorities concerned will have to be equal to the task. As for the private manpower agencies, they should not meddle with Malaysian labour market; instead they would do well to concentrate on other markets and better business.
The fact is that the government has sought to take the responsibility of just one single country. Why should the BAIRA take umbrage against the authorities and oppose such a decision? One understands that members of the association will not get a share of the recruitment business with Malaysia. They have the wide world to do their business. The problem with them is that they themselves feel threatened because of the proposed low migration cost under the state-to-state arrangement. Unmindful of the high migration cost they charge, the proposed rate will definitely dent their business elsewhere as well. It is this consideration that has made them nervous. The expatriate welfare and overseas employment minister has moreover stated that the migration cost will come down to Tk 20,000, just half the rate of Tk 40,000, if the receiving country provided plane fares for workers. If this is so, the government initiatives will further expose the exorbitant recruitment charges claimed by manpower exporting agencies.
There are even stronger reasons for finalising a deal between the two countries at the state level. The saga of mass deportation of Bangladeshi workers because of illegal status was about to sour relations between the two countries. It is common knowledge who the people were responsible for this. Both Bangladesh and Malaysia are careful to avoid any repeat of that horrendous event. Whether the ministry, the BMET and the BOESL will be able to take the necessary precaution in making the recruitment process flawless is yet to be known. They should be aware that the stake is high in this case. They must do all they can to make the procedures foolproof in the interest of the confidence Malaysia has lately reposed in Bangladesh's ability to become a source country for that country's manpower need. All such considerations, of necessity, might have prompted the government not to leave the responsibility of sending workers in private hands. Now the authorities concerned will have to be equal to the task. As for the private manpower agencies, they should not meddle with Malaysian labour market; instead they would do well to concentrate on other markets and better business.