The International Labour Organization (ILO) denied that it has endorsed Bestinet Sdn Bhd’s Foreign Worker Centralised Management System (FWCMS).
In a statement on May 11, the United Nations agency clarified that the FWCMS was not recognised by the UN either, contradicting a previous Bestinet statement issued through the law firm Lui & Bhullar.
The company defended the FWCMS as a “UN-recognised platform” and referred to the system’s winning of the 2017 World Summit Award (WSA) in Austria.
The ILO said it only provided preliminary comments on the FWCMS to Bestinet in 2013, when the company’s executive directors presented a briefing on the system to the organisation in Bangkok.
Quoting from its comments at the time, the organisation said in a statement yesterday that: “The ILO found the Bestinet proposal to be well-presented, innovative, comprehensive, and demonstrated a good understanding of some of the challenges faced in the effective management of labour migration.”
“Beyond this, the ILO does not know of the credentials or competence of Bestinet to carry out the proposed system, and these comments should not be construed as an endorsement of the company.”
It stressed that such comments were made in relation to the proposal only and did not apply to any subsequent implementations following the briefing.
Additionally, the ILO explained that the UN did not issue the WSA awards, as the event is an activity by a separate entity - the International Centre for New Media.
“While the WSA was initiated within the context of the UN World Summit on the Information Society and is aligned with UN sustainable development goals, it is not an award issued by the UN.
“Hence, the award, while indeed bona fide, does not imply UN recognition,” it asserted.
It also noted that recruitment fees imposed on migrant workers contradict internationally recognised fair and ethical recruitment principles, and that Malaysia was moving towards eliminating such payments when its government signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Bangladesh in 2021.
The ILO further recalled that in May 2024, it, along with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), expressed concern over reports of Bangladeshi migrant workers arriving in Malaysia with valid permits only to discover that promised jobs did not exist.
It said the organisation remains ready to support Malaysia in improving labour migration governance in line with international labour standards.
Malaysiakini had held the article to give Bestinet founder Aminul Islam Abdul Nor and Lui & Bhullar time to respond to the ILO.
Aminul told Malaysiakini yesterday that he will soon issue a statement on the matter. Malaysiakini has yet to receive his statement.
On April 23, Bestinet stepped forward to defend its track record amid questions about the FWCMS and another upcoming migrant worker system called The Universal Recruitment Advanced Platform (Turap), also developed by the company.
It said the criticism against it by “certain public figures” is false and based on selective data that had been taken out of context, warning that it will take legal action against such claims.
A few days before that, 10 PKR MPs objected to Putrajaya’s alleged plan to adopt Turap.
The PKR lawmakers said FWCMS had been plagued by issues, casting doubt on Bestinet’s ability to develop such a system - allegations which the company has since denied.
What was Special Branch’s role?
Following the ILO’s clarification, former MP and migrant rights advocate Charles Santiago called on Putrajaya to suspend and independently review the FWCMS concession agreement.
In the first of a three-part series of posts on the matter, Charles argued yesterday that Bestinet’s claims regarding UN recognition and ILO recommendation had now been “publicly contradicted” by the international body itself.
Today, Charles, in his second post, questioned Bestinet’s claim that the police’s intelligence arm, the Special Branch, had recommended the FWCMS.
The former Klang MP asserted that the Special Branch’s mandate does not include endorsing private companies bidding for government contracts and asked when the recommendation was made.
In a statement by Bestinet and Lui & Bhullar last month, the company said: “The system was developed following more than 500 formal engagements with Malaysian government agencies, recommended by the ILO, Special Branch, Malaysia, and designed in accordance with the principles and policies of the ILO and the IOM.”
Commenting on this, Charles asked whether the recommendation was officially recorded, under whose authority it was made, if it had been solicited by anyone, and for what reasons.
“The invocation of the Special Branch in a commercial context is either a serious institutional irregularity or a deliberate attempt to silence scrutiny by implying national security sensitivity. Either way, the public deserves an explanation,” he said.
He added that his final statement tomorrow will cover questions over who benefits from the FWCMS and who pays for it.
Bestinet sues for RM1 billion
In January, Bloomberg reported on the plight of Bangladeshi migrants who had to borrow a hefty amount of money so they could pay an alleged “syndicate fee” to work in Malaysia. The article attributed this to the FWCMS.
Following this, Aminul filed a lawsuit against Bloomberg’s New York office and Kuala Lumpur office, with Malaysiakini named as the fifth defendant.
Bestinet and Aminul are seeking more than RM1 billion in damages over Bloomberg’s original and subsequent reports on the issue.
However, the application for an injunction to prevent further dissemination of the statements in dispute, pending the conclusion of the lawsuit, was rejected by High Court judge Roslan Mat Nor without orders as to cost.
Roslan stated in his written judgment the week before that the allegedly defamatory statements pertain to a matter of public interest. - Mkini
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