PETALING JAYA: An NGO has asked the government to look into fairer employment terms for Bangladeshi workers and recruitment agents, for employment in the local labour market.
“We want a system which offers fair-play provisions to employees, employers and agents as well and for the government and do away with the old system,“ said Pertubuhan Keselamatan Dalam Negeri Warga Asing Malaysia chairman, Datuk Sri P. Thiagaraja yesterday.
Last September, the government had suspended the Foreign Worker Application System (SPPA) for Bangladeshi workers, as it only allowed the recruitment process to be conducted by 10 “selected” agencies approved by the previous government.
Via this system, Bangladeshi workers had to fork out up to RM20,000 (per person), as processing fee payment (to one of the selected agents) to process work permit approvals and arrangements for employment in Malaysia.
Whereas, Thiagaraja told reporters that the processing fee for hiring of other foreigners, like Singaporeans or Dubai-nationals, costs nothing more than RM6,000.
He said the SPPA was implemented between 2017 and 2018, in which over 300,000 Bangladeshi workers were hired.
Based on figures from an online news portal, there are currently some 400,000 Bangladeshi workers legally employed in Malaysia.
Thiagaraja pointed out that when the system was in place, there was a surge in the number of Bangladeshi workers compared to previous years. For the past 15 years, before implementation of the SPPA, he said there were just about 10,000 to 12,000 Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia.
Moreover, these foreign nationals were also said to be paid meagre wages (compared with other foreign national workers here), receiving between RM1,050 and RM1,100 per month.
They were also required to agree to a minimum two-year working contract, in which, if one does the Math, left workers in debt (considering the pay-back to their agents for the exhorbitant processing fees).
“We received many complaints from Bangladeshi workers who have claimed that they need to settle their debts with their agents, hence, they will eventually need to work as illegal immigrants here, as the measly sum they earn can’t cover their debt within their two-year employment contract,” explained Thiagaraja.
Moreover, the over spill of illegal immigrants will also negatively affect the gross domestic product of the country, he added.
“RM400 million of the government’s expenses allocated towards the Immigration Detention Centre can be reduced if the government strengthens the mechanism or the process of hiring of foreign workers,“ Thiagaraja said.
With that, discussions are on-going this November, between the government-to-government (G2G) of Bangladesh and Malaysia and draw back the workers which the system exploited.
A decision on the resumption of Bangladeshi workers’ recruitment in Malaysia is expected to be finalised by end of this month after the 4th Joint Working Group Meeting between both nations in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Nov 24 and 25.
