Editorial
Workers in trouble in Malaysia again
Can't we thrash it out once and for all
This is the second time in four months that abused and underpaid Bangladeshi workers have sought refuge at our country's embassy in Kuala Lumpur. This time 225 workers have been sheltering partly within the mission compound but mostly on the pavements since early December. Only in September, 100 Bangladeshi workers, driven by poor working conditions and low pay in the host country, had organised protests at the High Commission premises.
In recent years there have been tales aplenty of our workers in Malaysia (as also in the Middle East) being subjected to exploitation and discrimination. They have been often cheated by agents in Bangladesh and once arriving in Malaysia the so-called local agents took full advantage of their vulnerabilities. Most of the workers had sold their meagre property at home and even taken out loans from others to pay the recruiting agents so that they are thrown to the wolves. Eventually, they land on jobs they had not contracted for accepting low pay and substandard conditions. Or they face detention or deportation.
True, the workers' desperation forces them to make mistakes but surely it is the government's responsibility to put a system in place in collaboration with the host countries so that the expatriate workers are not victimised by the swindlers on both sides. There are two compelling reasons why at the inter-governmental levels the manpower business should be streamlined once and for all. First, the manpower importing countries hugely benefit from the contributions of the expatriate workers to their economies. Secondly, the country exporting labour is also tremendously helped through remittances from exported manpower. It is a two-way traffic and a win-win proposition for both countries.
We would urge the government to send a high powered delegation to Malaysia to sort out the problems on a durable basis. It involves not only remittance but also our goodwill with countries who have been recruiting our manpower. The untoward happenings demean our image abroad which we believe is entirely avoidable through cooperation of both sides.
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