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The Malaysian government wants to open up the recruitment of workers in Bangladesh to all agencies to break the monopoly on the business and reduce processing fees, according to a report by New Straits Times.
“We are discussing with the Bangladeshi government on the matter,” Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad told a press conference after chairing a special committee meeting on foreign workers management in Parliament Tuesday.
“Currently, there are only 10 agencies (allowed) to process prospective Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia. This is a form of monopoly.
“The processing fee (for each worker) can go up to RM20,000.
“So, we want to expand the business to others, to all agents (in Bangladesh) so that there will be competition and (can lead to) reduced processing fees.”
Dr Mahathir said a single or streamlined system would be used to facilitate the hiring of foreign workers from Bangladesh and Nepal, as well as any refunds incurred.
“An independent taskforce on the matter will also be formed and chaired by someone who has held high positions in the government, such as former judges and former chief secretaries.
“The committee will be supervised by the Labour Market Information and Analysis Institute.”
Responding to allegations made by Nepali Times on Bestinet Sdn Bhd’s purported involvement with a fraud syndicate that had been victimising Nepali workers, Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran said a memorandum of understanding (MoU) would be signed soon to resolve the issue.
“We are going to have an MoU swith them to solve the issue. The MoU has been approved by the Nepalese in principle.”
Dr Mahathir said it was an issue of interest to the Nepalese government.
“We need to have a government-to-government agreement (on this matter).”