Editorial
The manpower fiasco
Why did problems in Malaysia assume crisis proportions?
The Bangladesh High Commissioner in Malaysia has pledged a better handling of manpower issues vis-à-vis Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur ties. That may sound like an encouraging statement. In reality, though, one needs to ask why all this matter of making pledges and talking about a revamping of conditions should be there given that it is the understood, prescribed job of the country's diplomatic mission in Malaysia to uphold Bangladesh's vital interests there. One gets the sense that the High Commission has suddenly decided to sit up and take notice of the muddle created around the issue of manpower export to Kuala Lumpur. Coming soon after the decision by the Malaysian authorities to ban any fresh intake of workers from Bangladesh, the move by the mission looks suspiciously like a belated recognition of its own failures.
The facts are obvious. Major rackets are involved in the ill treatment of Bangladesh's workers in recent times. The fact that our workers have had to spend days after their arrival in Kuala Lumpur at the parking lot of the airport there, because no one from their recruiting organisations was there to receive them, speaks of the scandalous heights to which the country's manpower export was taken. One acknowledges the truth that just as there are corrupt manpower organisations as well as agents here in Bangladesh, there are similar elements in Malaysia. The point, though, is that the infractions and lapses committed by a section of Bangladeshi manpower exporters are a major reason behind the miseries of our workers. Take the matter of the expenses involved in a worker's travelling all the way to Kuala Lumpur. Where he should be paying Taka 85,000 for the entire process of his recruitment and journey to Malaysia, he ends up paying Taka 2,50,000. Incredibly enough, the receipt he is given once he hands over such a big amount to his agents shows a payment of Taka 85,000 having been made. Such ill treatment has been there for a long period of time. There is clearly a need for an explanation here from the Ministry of Overseas Employment and Expatriates' Welfare. Had it done its job well, we would not be in this sad situation.
As for the High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, the simple fact is that it is adequately staffed to deal with any manpower problems that may arise. Its performance, however, demonstrates the clear ineptitude and carelessness with which it has handled matters. Its job should have been to anticipate the problems our workers might face if proper procedures are not followed in their recruitment. What it did, though, was to allow these problems to mutate into a major crisis, the upshot of it being a fresh clampdown on an entry of Bangladeshi manpower into Malaysia. In the circumstances, it will not be out of place to suggest that an inquiry be undertaken into the work of the High Commission, covering the performance of everyone from the highest to the lowest rung of the ladder.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments