Recruitment agencies in Dhaka say they have formed an alliance against a syndicate of only 25 companies allowed by Malaysia to handle recruitment.

Shameen Ahmed Chowdhury, a spokesman for the anti-syndicate alliance, said two prominent persons with strong connections, one in Malaysia and another in Dhaka, were trying to ensure only the 25 selected agencies were allowed to recruit workers.

He said the alliance has submitted a memorandum to the government reiterating their demand that all 1,530 members of the alliance be allowed to recruit workers for Malaysia.

“The Malaysian labour market must be opened to all legal agencies in Bangladesh in line with the local Competition Act which disallows any form of monopoly,” he said.

“It is also against the International Labour Organization’s convention that all agencies should be allowed to recruit workers. We are united in this stand and I believe the Bangladesh government is on the same page with us,” he told FMT when contacted.

Shameen said Malaysia had told the Bangladesh government that each of the 25 appointed agencies will be allowed to appoint 10 others to bring in the workers.

However, Bangladesh has not agreed as it will lead to a monopoly, said Shameen. He added that the Bangladesh minister for overseas employment had said on national television that his government would not agree to allow only 25 recruitment agencies to control the market.

Shameen said Malaysia sources workers from 13 countries but the limit on recruitment agencies is only practised in Bangladesh.

He said the limit would allow the recurrence of old “corrupt” practices which forced the Malaysian government to stop the entry of foreign workers in 2018.

He said another meeting of the joint working committee between the two countries is scheduled for May 25.