Recently we have heard so many horror stories of exploited
Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and other gulf
countries. On the other hand, we also read in newspapers about the
recent record of Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserve, which is
primarily due to robust growth in foreign remittance. But how much
blood, sweat and tears have been spilled to make this happen not many
of us think about.
While an average Pakistani or Indian worker is paid around 1,000 to
1,200 riyals, a Bangladeshi counterpart in similar jobs is paid 300
to 400 riyals in Saudi Arabia. Newsweek recently published an
article called "Bottom of the Barrel" in its Mar 24, 2008 issue
(http://www.newsweek.com/id/123481) on the dark side of globalization
and modern day slavery. It covered a good portion on Bangladeshi
laborers and named Malaysia as the worst offender where an estimated
2.5 million forced laborers mostly from Bangladesh, Indonesia, and
the Philippines are being exploited in all sorts of companies and
industries. And at the top of this vicious chain, we, the
inhabitants of the Western world and the ones who enjoy the ultimate
benefit of forced labor in the form of cheap products from theses
countries are also contributing a great deal to this inhumane
situation. This article did not cover the forced labor situation in
the oil-rich gulf countries where in addition to cheap labor,
exploitation of women working as house maids adds another dimension
to this cruelty.
Forced laborers in Malaysia are like the "lambs to the slaughter" -
says one worker at a charity which runs a safe house in Indonesia for
the fugitive migrant workers a.k.a. modern slaves who have been
caught, punished, and expelled from Malaysia. The article ends with
the following paragraph:
"So far, the international community has taken only small steps to
control the traffic in forced labor. In response to complaints,
Malaysia has called a temporary halt to imports of labor from
Bangladesh. At the other end of the pipeline, the Dhaka government
has vowed to investigate charges that Bangladesh's labor exports
effectively constitute legalized slavery. But emancipation remains
only a dream."
If Malaysia or Saudi Arabia stops importing labor from Bangladesh
(Saudi media have already started very negative and ugly campaigns
against all the Bangladeshi poor laborers which incidentally
coincides with the demands for war crime trials from various quarters
in Bangladesh), for a country like Bangladesh with a large
population, very limited resources, corrupt politicians and
government officials, crooked businessmen and mostly unskilled labor
force, it poses serious dilemma. But on the positive side, like
garments industries, the labor force will remain competitive for a
long time because of its cheap rate. Another way to say it, if
Saudis decides not to use Bangladeshi labor, it will equally be not
beneficial for both countries.
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[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
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