The authorities of Bangladesh and Malaysia have been urged to ensure transparency in the recruitment process of Bangladeshi expatriate workers in Malaysia.
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) and Transparency International Malaysia (TIM) on Tuesday made the call in a joint statement, aimed at protecting the interests of both workers and employers.
They demanded public disclosure of the contents of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two governments on December 19, 2021 on recruitment of expatriate workers from Bangladesh for employment in Malaysia.
They also urged the governments to take all measures to prevent corruption in the recruitment process, including potential syndicated control, so that the interests of the workers from Bangladesh and their employers in Malaysia can be protected.
The TIB and TIM referred to recent media reports in both countries about the possibility of syndicated capture of the process by a vested group of Bangladeshi Recruiting Agencies (BRAs) in collaboration with their Malaysian cohorts.
They expressed deep concern over the failure of the two governments in disclosing the terms and conditions that they have agreed on such a subject of direct public interest.
According to the statement issued simultaneously from Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur, the two national chapters of the Berlin-based global coalition against corruption, Transparency International (TI), this secrecy is contradictory to both governments' national and international commitments to control corruption and ensure public access to information.
Not only that, the lack of disclosure is creating opportunity for potential syndicated capture by a handful of BRAs, as widely reported in the media of both Bangladesh and Malaysia, thanks to collusion with powerful quarters in both the countries, it added.
The statement referred to media reports that while there are over 1,500 interested and legally authorised BRAs, by some evil design of some powerful quarters only 25 of them may secure the Malaysian government's permit to recruit workers from Bangladesh with the provision of ten sub-agents for each of them.
Iftekharuzzaman and Muhammad Mohan, executive director and president respectively of TIB and TIM, said: "The scope of manipulation created by the secrecy around the contents of the MoU will not only subvert the mandatory provisions of open and fair competitive process of selection of agencies for the purpose, but also limit the scope of accountability in the process and substantially increase the cost of migration for the Bangladeshi expatriate workers and their Malaysian employers."
Recalling that in 2018 Malaysia was forced to ban recruitment from Bangladesh against the backdrop of allegation of corruption, including similar syndicated capture, they said: "We urge upon our respective government to disclose the MoU in full details for public information and urge concrete actions at the respective national level as well as collaboratively to ensure that the recruitment process is not held hostage once again to such evil designs of powerful syndicates."
The statement further said that migration of Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia serves the national interest of both countries like direct economic benefits, and hence, TIB and TIM expected that the two governments will attach highest priority to preventing secrecy and corrupt practices around this mutually beneficial sector.
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