Plight of jobless Bangladeshis in Malaysia. Who is to blame?

In July 2023, Sumon Hossain, a man in his twenties from Jhenaidah, ventured to Malaysia as a construction worker, paying Tk4.5 lakh to a private recruiting agency. But, upon arrival, he found himself jobless.

Sayra Banu, his mother, has now lodged a complaint with the Bureau of Manpower, Employment, and Training (BMET), seeking assistance in securing a job for her son.

"Workless, hungry, and abused on foreign soil – that is my son's reality. He is shuffled between shelters, and denied even a stable roof over his head by the recruiting agency," Sayra wrote in the complaint letter.

Approaching the agency, however, brought no solace, only further mistreatment, she added.

Thousands of some 4 lakh Bangladeshi workers who have gone to Malaysia since the country opened its labour market in August 2022 have found themselves jobless and vulnerable to exploitation.

A source from the BMET's employment division told TBS that similar complaints from Malaysia-bound workers have sharply risen since December last year.

"Earlier, around 85% of complaints were from Saudi Arabia. But now we are getting 50-50 complaints from both Malaysia and Saudi," he said.

Migration sector insiders blame a tangled web of employers, middlemen, and recruiting agencies lure desperate workers with fake offers of high-paying jobs and artificially inflate migration fees.

Despite official regulations setting the migration cost for Malaysia at Tk79,000, aspiring migrants have to pay Tk4.5 lakh to Tk5 lakh to these recruiting agencies, according to victims and their family members.

While acknowledging the issue of unemployment among migrant workers, recruiting agencies say their role is confined to processing workers based on overseas demands. 

If the job letters are fake, then the Malaysian employers or the authorities should be held responsible, they argue.

Mohammad Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan, the director of Immigration at the BMET, told TBS, "In light of the rising number of job-related complaints, we convened a recent meeting on this issue. The Malaysian government has blacklisted employing companies where Bangladeshis faced job placement challenges. Consequently, we are working to prevent our workers from engaging with these newly blacklisted companies."

Is there a syndicate?

Through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bangladesh, the Malaysian government selected only 100 recruiting agencies out of Bangladesh's 2,500 for worker recruitment, forming a so-called "syndicate".

Within this system, even these chosen agencies can partner with up to 10 others, potentially expanding the reach but blurring responsibility. 

Malaysia, reopening its labour market in August 2022 after a four-year pause, emerged as the second-largest employer of Bangladeshi workers internationally, just behind Saudi Arabia.

The Southeast Asian nation has recruited a sizable 4.01 lakh workers across diverse sectors like manufacturing, construction, services, plantations, agriculture, mining, and even household services since August 2022.

The construction sector appears to be a hotbed for fraudulent recruitment, with insiders raising numerous red flags.

Recruiting agencies blame authorities

The agencies of the so-called syndicate said agencies merely process the workers and it is the Malaysian employers who are to be blamed for the crisis.

Sadia International, one of the syndicate members, successfully sent over 2,200 workers to Malaysia. However, many of its clients alleged that they found themselves jobless after reaching Malaysia.

Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman, the proprietor of Sadia International, acknowledged this issue, saying: "We have sent many construction workers, and a significant number have also ventured into the service sector. However, the concentration in the construction sector is high which has led to increased challenges. Many individuals who have chosen this path are encountering various issues with job security."

When asked about the percentage of workers encountering unemployment after reaching Malaysia, he said, "It is challenging to provide an exact figure. A considerable number of individuals are facing employment issues, but at the same time, many are successfully securing re-employment." 

Shameem Ahmed, also the former secretary general of the Bangladesh International Recruiting Agencies (Baira), said, "Upon receiving approval from the governments of both nations, our workers travel abroad. The job letters are vetted by embassies. The perplexing question is: why are thousands of individuals unable to secure employment opportunities after going abroad?"

Asked why the Bangladeshi agencies will not be responsible for this, he said, "We are the service provider. We process and send the workers according to the demands of the employers.

"Employers are sending job letters to recruit workers because they have been approved by the Malaysian authorities. If workers do not get jobs now, disciplinary action should be taken against the employers. The victim workers should be compensated by authorities."

Malaysia sees an excess inflow of foreign workers

Malaysian authorities said they are facing a problem with an excess inflow of foreign workers.

"Relaxing regulations on the hiring of foreign workers and the recalibration exercise led to an excess of over 250,000 foreign workers in the manufacturing and service sectors," Malaysian Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution said in last October as per the local media reports.

He said as of 9 October, a total of 667,418 foreign workers had come into Malaysia, compared to the forecast of 518,000 based on the relaxation and recalibration programme.

Regarding the Malaysian minister's comment, Andy Hall, a Kuala Lumpur-based migrant worker rights specialist told The Business Standard over the phone, "I would say at least one lakh Bangladeshis have become jobless as per the information of the home minister. Because, after reopening the labour market for Bangladeshi workers, around 60% of total recruitment came from the south Asian nation."

More workers, more money!

Stranded without work for months, hundreds of South Asian migrants including Bangladeshis in Malaysia say they are losing hope after failing to find jobs promised to them by recruitment agents in exchange for thousands of dollars in fees, Reuters reported in May last year.

They say they arrived in the country on a three-month work visa that was meant to be upgraded to a work permit, but never was. Because their legal status is unclear, they are afraid to leave the premises, the workers told Reuters at the facility where they are staying.

"A recruitment fee of up to RM25,000 (Ringgit Malaysia) is the main reason agents are applying to bring in more foreign workers than needed", National Association of Private Employment Agencies Malaysia (Papsma) secretary-general Sukumaran Nair told Free Malaysia Today published on 26 December.

"These companies which serve as intermediaries are bloodsuckers. Each worker pays RM20,000 to RM25,000 in recruitment fees. Imagine the kind of profit these companies are making," he added.  

"That is why agents from Bangladesh will try to bring in as many workers as they can from there."

Sukumaran said that there were situations where a company might only need 10 foreign workers, but the agent at the recruitment firm would apply for 100.