DHAKA: Malaysian technology company Bestinet has been driven out from Nepal and Indonesia when it attempted to establish the dominancy in labor markets of these two countries.

Malaysian Home Ministry has to face criticism when it gave free hand to Bestinet for import and export of human resources.

However, Nepal and Indonesia are the dominant forces in Malaysia labor market.

Bestinet was given the responsibilities of visa processing and health examinations of the foreign workers employed in Malaysia. Its immigration department has cancelled the permission of Bestinet for flawed visa processing and biometric health examinations on the last day of January this year.

The embargo on the company was imposed within two weeks as soon as the Foreign Workers Centralized Management System (FWCMS) and biometric health examinations came into force in Malaysia.

The agencies involved with overseas employment brought allegations against FWCMS and biometric health checking that led to issue threatening to stop sending workers.

The operators alleged that Bestinet has increased the travel fee from MR 15 to MR 250.

On January 26, the immigration department announced that they would go back to the old system regarding the foreign labor employment. Introduced on January 15, the concerned department announced the cancellation of biomedical checking and FWCMS systems.

The circular signed by the director of foreign workers department Farah Adura Hamid said that the visa processing work will be dealt by the immigration counter following the previous system.

He said that both the circulars have been issued by the home ministry but without any elaboration. The ministry has issued the circular and the immigration department will execute it.

The Bestinet took the responsibilities of performing the task of quota fixation, issuing temporary electronic permit, insurance and other related matters along with FWCMS website. The health checking was also done by the Bestinet.

Former home minister of Malaysia Tan Sree Azmi Khalid and former labor director Datuk Tenku Omar Tenku Bot are the directors of this private IT firm Besinet.

The experts including the foreign governments have opined that the biometric system not only enhances cost but also hampers the information security of the workers.

People’s Justice party parliament member Datuk Johary Abdul and Youth Information chief Li Chen Chung raised questions about the monopoly of Bestinet.

They said that the information gathered by Bestinet is very much sensitive about the boundary and immigration of the country. If any single company handles it, the security and sovereignty of the country might be jeopardized.

They gave time to the home minister Dr Ahmed Zahid Hamidi to answer that why Bestinet was rather prized by awarding these works.

This monopoly would help Bestinet to do huge business and would also enhance the cost of importing foreign workers.

Zohary and Li said that this monopoly would only exploit the foreign workers and might create situation of human trafficking.

Indonesia and Nepal usually send more than one hundred workers daily. These two countries have already alleged about enhancement of cost and getting final clearance from this system.

The recruiting companies of Nepal announced that if this system does not stop then they would not send workers. The Nepalese parliament has urged the government not to introduce biometric system.

The parliamentary standing committee chief of Nepal on International Relations and Labor affairs Prabhu Saha has opposed the biometric system. The standing committee has told the government not to adopt the system without knowing its impact.

Saha told that the Nepal government has been advised not to introduce the system.

He said that visibly this system will not benefit any body rather it will enhance the cost of the workers.

Malaysian News Agency Barnama reported that in 2014-15 fiscal year in the first five months more than one lakh workers left Malaysia. More than 7.50 lakh labors are now working there.

Indonesian manpower agencies have also gave the opinion against the Bestinet IT system. They said that the cost of the workers will be increased and the country has also threatened to stop sending workers in Malaysia.

They alleged that it is just a system to exploit the workers. Malaysia should talk to Indonesia over the matter. The Nepalese and Indonesian workers are engaged in domestic, manufacturing, construction and plantation sectors of Malaysia.

The biometric health examination was introduced in the name of checking the fraudulent health reports. The immigration department said that Bestinet is trying to introduce the system for the Bangladeshi labors.

BDST: 1435 HRS, JULY 26, 2015
Edited by Shahjahan/RR