The manpower recruiting agencies of Bangladesh and Malaysia have jointly expressed their stance against the 25-agency syndicate for sending workers to Malaysia.

Bangladeshi recruiters, virtually joined by recruiters from Malaysia at a city hotel Thursday, demanded equal opportunity for all agencies and cancellation of the recruiting licences of those who are lobbying for further syndication.

"Bangladesh should get the same facilities as other 14 countries like Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Pakistan who can send their workers to Malaysia without any such syndicate," said Abul Bashar, former president of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira).

"All recruiting agencies are of equal qualifications and they have acquired licence by providing the same amount of caution money so they cannot be considered subagents of the 25 chosen ones."

Also read: Recruiting agents oppose 25-agency syndicate for exporting manpower to Malaysia

"Although ten agencies and 210 subagents got approval in 2016, only the ten agencies could send workers to Malaysia. Also, these agencies have been charging two to three times more fees from the expat workers travelling from Bangladesh," Bashar added.

Malaysian Association of Private Employers General Secretary Sukumar Nair said the new initiative of syndication or manipulation would destroy the market and the relations between the two countries.

A debate is going on over syndication in labour recruitment in Malaysia after Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on December 19 last year.

Twenty-five Bangladeshi agents and 250 subagents mentioned by Malaysian Human Resources Minister M Saravanan in a letter to Bangladesh Expatriates' Welfare Minister Imran Ahmad on 14 January sparked the debate.

On January 18, Imran sent a letter to the Malaysian government reiterating the ministry's position against any sort of syndication in manpower export to Malaysia, which was lauded by the Bangladeshi recruiters.

Also read: Malaysia for elevating ties with Bangladesh to 'strategic level'

Recently, the Bangladesh and Malaysia chapters of Transparency International jointly called for releasing the details of the MoU signed on December 19.

They called on the governments of the two countries to take preventive measures against all possible corruption, including the control of syndicates in the recruitment process.