Hectic lobbying to relax G-to-G process for Malaysia-bound workers

Lobbyists are working to convince the Malaysian authorities to recruit workers from Bangladesh through private agencies also, sources said.
They have initiated such lobbying to relax an existing agreement under which Bangladeshi manpower can only be exported to Malaysia through government-to-government (G-to-G) arrangement.
"Since the private recruiting agencies are unable to get involved in the recruitment process under the existing G-to-G agreement, they (private recruiters) are trying to convince the Malaysian authorities to relax such a provision," a senior official associated with the recruitment process told the FE.   
Sources said a section of Bangladeshi manpower recruiters is collecting offers from different companies or employers in Malaysia bypassing the Malaysian government authority and submitting those along with passports to the Malaysian High Commission in Dhaka for visas.
If the recruiting agencies continue to collect job offers from the employers directly, it will defeat the MoU objectives of both the countries as well as facilitate workers to get promised jobs without becoming illegal migrants. This is not desirable, they said.
Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding recruitment of workers through G-to-G process in November 2012 aiming to reduce migration cost as well as malpractices by the dishonest manpower recruiters.
Although the number of irregularities came down to almost zero level with the new migration process, the outflow of Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia, however, did not see any notable progress.
Despite a huge demand for workers, some 3,000 Bangladeshis went to Malaysia after signing of the MoU.
Malaysia needs nearly 1.0 million workers for plantation, construction, agriculture, manufacturing, and service sectors. Of them, Bangladesh can send nearly 0.5 million workers within five years, officials in Dhaka announced earlier.
Taking advantage of lower labour migration cost under the government arrangement, a section of private recruiters is frantically searching opportunities to send workers to Malaysia, sources said.    
Earlier, some 2.2 million overseas job-seekers in various trades were enlisted under a government database. According to the government rules, the private recruiters also have to follow the database in sending workers abroad.
The Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry is also favouring G-to-G process for sending workers to other countries to reduce migration cost and fraudulence, said an official. Work in this regard is going on, he added.
"If we do not stop corrupt practices of the private recruiting agencies, then we have to face various problems including huge migration cost, job uncertainty and illegal migration etc, he said.
The Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia requested the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) not to give immigration clearance to passports of workers unless they follow the procedure laid down in the MoU.
Malaysia in 2009 suspended manpower import  from Bangladesh following malpractices of a section of recruiting agencies. But after a long negotiation, Malaysia resumed manpower import under the G-to-G process.