Former leaders of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) have called for the immediate withdrawal of what they termed “unreasonable, discriminatory and syndicate-driven” conditions recently imposed by the government on recruiting agencies seeking to send workers to Malaysia.
In a letter submitted to the adviser of the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, Dr Asif Nazrul, on Thursday, the former Baira leaders accused the ministry of attempting to “hand over the Malaysian labour market to a new syndicate” under the guise of regulatory reform.
The protest follows the ministry’s October 29 circular, which invited private recruiting agencies to apply for approval to send workers to Malaysia, provided they meet 10 specific conditions.
These include maintaining a 10,000 square foot office space, operating from the same address for at least three years, having a dedicated training centre, and proving they have sent at least 3,000 workers over the past five years.
In the letter, Baira leaders argued that these conditions are “unprecedented and exclusionary” and would effectively disqualify 99% of legitimate agencies from participation.
They alleged that the new criteria are aimed at recreating a monopolistic structure similar to the one in place since 2017, when they claim a syndicate exploited the Malaysia labour corridor to extract crores in illegal profits.
“There is no precedent for such conditions in any country,” the letter said.
“Millions of workers were sent to Malaysia between 1991 and 2016 without these restrictions. These new requirements are nothing but a tool to exclude most agencies and benefit a handful.”
They also challenged the logic behind requiring such large office spaces or personal training centres, especially when the official Baira Training Centre exists.
“Even licensed agencies in Malaysia or other labour-exporting countries such as Nepal, Indonesia or the Philippines do not operate 10,000-square-foot offices,” they added.
The letter pointed to the compounded impact of Covid-19, the war in Ukraine, and diplomatic or regulatory disruptions in key markets like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Libya — factors they said had limited all agencies’ ability to meet the imposed criteria in recent years, despite their capabilities.
The former leaders said the current system would once again raise migration costs for workers and called on the ministry to engage with the Malaysian government to open the labour market to all registered Bangladeshi agencies.
As an alternative, they suggested that if Malaysia insists on limited channels, the state-run agency BOESL could be designated as the central coordinator, allowing all other agencies to participate under its umbrella.
Those present during the submission of the letter included former senior vice president of Baira Riaz-ul-Islam, former joint secretary general Mohammad Fakhrul Islam, and Akbar Hossain Manju.
