TRANSPARENCY International Bangladesh (TIB) and Transparency International Malaysia (TIM) have jointly called for public disclosure of the contents of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between both governments last year.
The MoU was signed on Dec 19, 2021 in relation to the recruitment of expatriate workers from Bangladesh for employment in Malaysia.
The two national chapters of the Berlin-based global coalition against corruption urged the two governments to take all preventive measures against corruption in the recruitment process including potential syndicated control.
Referring to recent media reports in both countries about the possibility of syndicated capture of the process of recruiting Bangladeshi nationals who could migrate to work in Malaysia by a vested group of Bangladeshi Recruiting Agencies (BRA) in collaboration with their Malaysian cohorts, TIB and TIM expressed concern that both governments have failed to disclose the terms and conditions of the MoU on “such a subject of direct public interest”.
“This secrecy is contradictory to both governments’ national and international commitments to control corruption and ensure public access to information,” both chapters said in a joint statement.
“Not only that, the lack of disclosure is creating opportunities for potential syndicated capture of the recruitment process by a handful of BRAs as widely reported in the media of both Bangladesh and Malaysia thanks to the collusion with powerful quarters in both countries.”
The statement referred to media reports that while there were over 1,500 interested and legally-authorised BRAs, only 25 of them were able to secure the Malaysian Government’s permit to recruit workers from Bangladesh with the provision of ten sub-agents for each of them.
“The scope of manipulation created by the secrecy around the contents of the MoU will not only subvert the mandatory provisions of open and fair competitive process of selection of agencies for the purpose but also limit the scope of accountability in the process and substantially increase the cost of migration for the Bangladeshi expatriate workers and their Malaysian employers,” said TIB executive director Iftekhar Zaman and TIM president Muhammad Mohan.
Recalling that in 2018 Malaysia was forced to ban recruitment from Bangladesh in the backdrop of allegation of corruption including similar syndicated capture, both chapters urged their respective governments to disclose the MoU in full details for public information.
They also urge concrete actions at the respective national level as well as collaboratively to ensure that the recruitment process “is not held hostage once again to such evil designs of powerful syndicates”.
The statement further said that migration of Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia serves the national interest of both the countries including direct economic benefits.
“Hence, TIB and TIM expect that the two Governments will attach the highest priority to preventing secrecy and corrupt practices around this mutually beneficial sector.” – Feb 8, 2022
