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Manpower maelstrom

M. Serajul Islam
THE Malaysian government'! decision to revoke 55,00( Bangladeshi work visas ha: shocked everyone. This shows the lack o preparedness of this government foi dealing with situations out of the ordi nary;
On the BBC website, one can set related backdated stories that shoulc have alerted this government that a crisis was coming. A January 9 story was cap uoned "Malaysian Visa Policy Tightened.' and another on January 22 said "Malaysia bans foreign recruitment."
The government should have focused on Malaysia in view of the remittance earnings, instead it recalled the high commissioner. The recall was publicised by the government, and was reported in the Malaysian media in a manner that went against our country's interests.
The High Commission was thus left to a junior officer while the crisis regarding Bangladesh expatriates was going from bad to worse. The acting high commissioner could not control the labour attach^, who deemed it fit to reveal that 70,000 Bangladeshis had received visas.
He told the media that Malaysia's bleak economic situation notwithstanding, these 70,000 Bangladeshis would be able to come to Malaysia. His comments sparked protests led by the Malaysian Trade Union Congress that resulted in the decision to revoke the visas. A Daily Star
editorial has been appropriately critlca of the foreign and the expatriate affair ministers at their offer to go to Malaysii "if required" to deal with the cnsuin] situation.
The Malaysian crisis has brought to tin surface serious issues about the remit tance business. One, it has re emphasised the importance of the remit tance business to the national economy There is also a discrepancy here betweer what appears in the media and the situa tion in reality. The Malaysian decision is grave news, but it will not, as the medic has predicted, be a death blow to the remittance business because those whose visas have been revoked have noi yet gone to Malaysia and. hence, have noi started sending money home.
Bangladesh expatriates arc patted or their backs in appreciation for the mone) they send home. The government, how ever, does precious little more for them tc make their stay abroad comfortable or tc remit their money without worry.
Private banks bring the remittance home through banks and exchange houses abroad. In this process, the Ministry of Expatriate Affairs and the Foreign Ministry, which can play significant roles in streamlining the business are out of the loop. Also left out are the Bangladesh missions abroad.
The expatriate ministry sends the labour attaches to the missions withoul any coordination with the foreign ministry, and without any policy guidelines
The Malaysian case has clearly demon strated the folly of sending labour atta ches, who have no knowledge of diplo macy and find themselves out of the depths when facing challenging diplo matic tasks in a foreign environment.
Bangladesh can no longer leave exter nal relations to be shared by a number o ministries that have no coordlnatinj mechanism. It is also imperative for the success of the country’s economic diplo macy to place all who work in mission; abroad, except defence personnel, undei the foreign ministry.
Despite the current world economic meltdown, the remittance business is sc to grow. While a few existing market; could slow down, like Malaysia, there art newer areas opening. In a recent tall show, the president of BAI RA spoke o East Europe as a new market since Easi Europeans are migrating to West Europe.
One Bangladeshi manpower ageni has sent a few hundred workers tc Romania to work in that country'; garment sector. Libya is getting back ir the market. In 2005, Bangladesh anc Japan signed an accord -- Japar International Training Cooperatior Agreement (JITCO) -- under which Bangladesh is entitled to send ar unlimited number of trainees anc apprentices to sixty of Japan's smal and medium scale enterprises. But ii has not seen the light of day due to the failure of the expatriate ministry tc understand its potential.
Under this agreement Bangladesh workers can work in Japan for three years, during which they could each earn at least 3 to 6 times whal Bangladeshi workers get in the ME, and return home with world class training and experience. An agreement with South Korea, modelled after JITCO, has
not yet been exploited fully.
There is also scope for sendini Bangladeshi women as maids to Wes Europe, which is not possible ye because of lack of trained maids Untrained Bangladeshi maids are never theless being sent abroad illegally. Se such Bangladeshi women died ir Lebanon recently because they wen without any training or legal docu ments, and fell prey to circumstances.
These prospects will remain pros pects unless Bangladesh urgently intro duces a mechanism for coordinatior among the ministries/institution: involved in the remittance business something sadly and badly lacking now
As a consequence, Bangladeshi worker earn far less compared to workers fron other countries.
The failure to bring embassies into th< loop by strengthening them and empow ering the ambassadors has not allowcc Bangladesh achieve better deal for the workers as well as providing better con sular services to them. Finally, training ha: been given little importance, as a conse quence of which Bangladeshi workers car become helpless.
Manpower markets are expanding At present, more than half of the mone; earned by Bangladeshi expatriates i: being lost to the hundi system. Thus the potential of remittance is vast, bu
to cash in on this we need to get oui house in order.
Bangladesh receives less than $1 billion in aid and grant from the devel oped nations. She retains the Externa Resources Division where civil servant; feel proud to serve. Yet ministries tha can help bring many more billions o dollars, like the foreign and the expatri ate ministries, are treated unfairly anc not allowed to work to their fulles potential. For the nation's sake, it i; necessary to change our mindset. The Malaysian decision should help Bangladesh do that.
M. Serajul Islam is a former Ambassador to Japan anc Director, Centre for Foreign Affairs Studies