Now it’s turn of private recruiters

With the Middle Eastern manpower market going dry, Bangladesh has become increasingly dependent on Malaysia to get jobs for its large pool of unskilled workers.
Malaysia also needs a huge number of workers, primarily in the agriculture sector. But the Southeast Asian nation's stance remains confusing as far as the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers is concerned.
In 2009, Malaysia stopped recruiting Bangladeshi workers alleging irregularities on the part of private recruiters. The Malaysian authorities accused the recruiting agencies in Bangladesh of sending workers illegally in collusion with a section of unscrupulous Malaysian middlemen.
Following diplomatic parleys for nearly two years, Malaysia agreed to resume recruitment of Bangladeshi workers only under government to government (G2G) arrangement with a minimum recruitment cost. Malaysian government promised to recruit a large number of Bangladeshi workers.
Thousands of people queued up before the centres, designated by the government, to get their names registered with a hope of finding jobs in Malaysia. Nearly 1.45 million people got their names enlisted. But their desire has remained unfulfilled since Malaysia issued only 7500 work permits during the last three years.
The manpower ministry of Bangladesh has lobbied hard with its counterpart in Malaysia to expedite the recruitment as per the agreement signed in November 26, 2012. But Malaysia appeared to be least interested and its officials were found to be evasive.
Now things are back to square one. The Malaysian authorities seem to be interested in taking Bangladeshi manpower through private sector recruiters that they once had opposed. Their change of mind, however, has remained unexplained.
It could be that the latest tragic incidents involving the Bangladeshi and Rohingaya jobseekers trying to enter Malaysia illegally have prompted the Malaysian authorities to facilitate the entry of Bangladesh workers in greater numbers through legal routes. The deaths and sufferings of boat people have also dented the international image of Malaysia, to some extent, along with Thailand from where the human traffickers have been operating.  
However, the return to the old way of sending workers to Malaysia would make the local private recruiters happy. Since the G2G approach came into effect they were having a very bad time. Malaysia was the prime manpower market for them following a marked decline in the recruitment of Bangladesh nationals by the Gulf countries.
Both Malaysia and Bangladesh were interested in the G2G arrangement to reduce the cost of migration and stop fraudulent activities in the process of migration. The jobseekers as well relevant others barring the private recruiters had welcomed the move. But the sloth in recruitment under the G2G approach has created a deep frustration among the jobseekers who have registered their names.
The latest move would create a new hope among the jobseekers. But the old worries might make a comeback. The worries are about deception and high cost of migration. Allegations of fraudulence and imposition of high migration cost on job seekers are galore.
It is expected that the government would fix a reasonable cost of migration as far as sending of Bangladesh workers to Malaysia is concerned. The cost must make both sides--- the recruiters and the jobseekers---happy. Yet then the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) would have to closely watch the activities of the private recruiters so that the poor job seekers are not defrauded or subjected to harassment, financially or otherwise.
Malaysia has become a very important manpower market for Bangladesh. But sending manpower there is unlikely to be a smooth affair. A leading Malaysian expert has suggested recruitment of Rohingyas to work in the palm plantation since Bangladeshis are not interested to work there. Another high Malaysian official said the move would be stepped up to send the illegal Bangladeshi workers back home. The number of Bangladeshis working illegally in Malaysia is quite high.  
Bangladesh's manpower minister Engineer Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain is now in Malaysia. He has met the Malaysian Prime Minister and the Home Minister. During the meeting the issue of employing Bangladesh workers in Malaysia was discussed. It is reported that Malaysia has shown interest to recruit 1.5 million (15 lakh) Bangladesh workers in the next three years. The workers to be recruited will be given visas for a period of three years.
Malaysia in 2009 had expressed its intention to recruit a large number of Bangladesh workers under G2G arrangement, creating high hopes among the job seekers and government policymakers in Bangladesh. But the hope was largely dashed. It is not possible to foretell what would happen this time. But the government and the private recruiters would have to work sincerely and with utmost honesty to keep the outbound flow of manpower to Malaysia uninterrupted. The Malaysian authorities should not get a chance to stop recruitment citing any fault on the part of Bangladeshi recruiters.
The remittance money has assumed greater importance in the context of slow growth of export in recent years. Its growth in the year 2014 was also very marginal. So, all efforts need to be made to send skilled and semi-skilled people in greater numbers since the markets for unskilled people have almost dried up. The government leaders from time to time talks about high-sounding projects and programmes to create skilled manpower. But the situation on the ground hardly matches their tall promises.
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