Editorial
Glimpses of positive sign on manpower front
Tackling men behind the workers' misery is the issue
OVER these past many years, thousands of our workers who have either not been able to go abroad or have been compelled to return home by the host countries have spoken of their travails brought on by unscrupulous agencies, especially at home but also abroad. In light of what has lately been happening to Bangladesh's workers in certain countries, these realities take on added significance. And now that none other than Expatriates Welfare Minister Khondokar Mosharraf Hossain has spoken of the nefarious roles played by brokers in the manpower business, it is proper to ask what happens from here on.
The minister has just come back home from what must have been an eye opener of a trip to Kuala Lumpur to gauge the conditions of Bangladeshi workers and the prospects for our workers there. The Bangladesh mission has been looking after a large number of these workers pending their return home, but it is safe to suggest that a much bigger number is out there spending days in unmitigated misery. Nevertheless, the minister has come back with rather encouraging news about the future of our workers. A spirit of mutuality has come into the issue given that both Bangladesh and Malaysia have agreed to combat the problem created by unscrupulous recruiting agencies and brokers at each other's end.
It is certainly a positive development that one expects will yield results. At the same time, the emphasis being placed on the Bangladesh mission's role in ensuring Bangladeshi workers' welfare in Malaysia is a noteworthy approach to the problem. The plan to increase manpower in the labour wing of the mission in Kuala Lumpur should lead to a streamlining of the work of the High Commission. That will come through verification by the mission of job conditions in the host country and also through ensuring that no fake organisation or agency in Malaysia is able to interfere with the lives of our workers. We read into such developments some very clear signs of optimism. However, it is also necessary that the same degree of supervision be applied in the case of the recruiting agencies here at home. That is where the roots of the problem lie.
Minister Mosharraf Hossain has noted that there is a chance that Kuala Lumpur will reconsider taking in workers from among the 55,000 whose visas were cancelled early last month. We expect the possibility to turn into a reality at the earliest. Finally, let us point out that the rapidity with which our workers have taken a battering abroad in recent months calls for a wholesale review of our manpower policy. There is no alternative to a change in perceptions and policy.
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