Why monopolise Malaysia recruitment?

It is surprising that the government has approved the draft MoU with the Malaysian government for the employment of Bangladeshi workers where a single private Malaysian company will be in charge of recruitment including collecting job demand letters from employers. The Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), has a point when it says that a single agency should not be given the job of recruiting the estimated 1.5 million workers from Bangladesh that are needed for the Malaysian economy over the next three years.

This paper has run extensive investigative reports on the malpractices of local recruitment agencies who have taken thousands of prospective workers on a ride in the promise of overseas employment. Having said that, we do however have serious reservations about a single company controlling a single overseas market. Yes, there have been irregularities committed in the past, but to blacklist en masse an entire sector of service providers because of some bad eggs is, we believe an injustice.

Allocating such a huge job to a single company will inevitably lead to a monopoly and despite claims to the contrary, we cannot be fully confident that there will be no overcharging. As this is a foreign company located on foreign soil, perhaps a rethinking is required here to look into ways whereby the inclusion of Bangladeshi agencies in the recruitment policy can be incorporated. It would allow for healthy competition, which the system under consideration now, excludes.