Reform system before getting more Bangladeshi workers, says rights group

 Tenaganita says failures in the system must be dealt with before any fresh intake of workers from Bangladesh.

Tenaganita executive director Glorene Das said many migrant workers were promised jobs that never materialised. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA:

 Human rights group Tenaganita has voiced objections to plans for recruiting up to 1.2 million workers from Bangladesh.

The group said a fresh intake without addressing systemic failures would only worsen an ongoing humanitarian crisis.

The group’s executive director, Glorene Das, called for a public moratorium on further recruitment and a complete structural overhaul of the system before any new intake is allowed.

Her comments follow reports on the recruitment of nearly 8,000 Bangladeshi workers stranded after missing a May 2023 deadline for foreign worker intake.

The resumption of recruitment follows talks between Malaysian and Bangladeshi officials in Putrajaya on Thursday.

However, Bangladeshi media reported that Malaysia is expected to recruit up to 1.2 million workers over six years under a new system.

In a statement today, Tenaganita demanded full disclosure of the new Malaysia-Bangladesh agreement as well as the immediate legalisation and job placement for stranded workers.

“What Malaysia needs now is not more recruitment, but a real reckoning. A reckoning with the systemic failures that have enabled widespread exploitation to persist unchecked,” Das said.

She said nearly half a million migrant workers were brought into Malaysia between January 2022 and September 2024, including over 350,000 from Bangladesh, with many ending up jobless, unpaid, and stranded.

“Many were lured in by false assurances, having paid up to RM25,000 in recruitment fees, often through debt, only to find themselves jobless, unpaid, homeless, and at constant risk of arrest,” she said in a statement today.

She claimed Tenaganita has identified at least 150 companies that received worker quotas despite lacking real business operations.

“These workers could not have entered Malaysia for non-existent jobs without the active involvement and approval of government agencies,” she said, adding that authorities must also take responsibility. -FMT