New laws ensure best practices

Migration to foreign lands:

Rasika Somarathna

The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) is to be given wider powers, including permission to arrest without warrant any errant job agent or individual violating established protocol in a bid to ensure and enforce best ethical practices in labour migration.
The proposed new regulation by way of amendments to the SLBFE Act which was originally introduced in 1985 was passed in Parliament by a majority vote on Thursday.
A revision of laws when dealing with rogue agents too are to be effected with fines ranging from Rs.100,000 and a maximum four year imprisonment being proposed.
Permission is also to be given to regularize the five percent cess tax charged from recruiting agents.
Restrictions are also to be placed on advertisements carried out by agents in the media. Accordingly, both the agents and media would have to seek prior approval before carrying such material.
The new proposals would also place restrictions on charges levied on overseas employment seekers. Issuing a receipt for the monies taken would be mandatory.
Charges levied would need prior approval from authorities. Under the new proposals, false details and promises by job agents would come under a fine ranging from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 25,000.
According to Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, during the first nine months of this year, the Government had only received Rs.11 million so far although Rs.33 million is due to it. Minister Rambukwella told the media yesterday that changes were made with the idea of ensuring best practices related to protection and welfare of labour migrants.
Remittance by migrant workers which amounts to over US $ 03 billion annually is Sri Lanka’s number one foreign exchange earner. Over 1.6 million Lankans are employed abroad with another 220,000 (average) joining the force annually.
According to the Minister, through these amendments the SLBFE’s authorized officers would be given authorization to examine any document in the possession of a person going abroad for employment at any port of embarkation to see whether they have the required registration.
Sleuths will be given powers to arrest any illegal labour migrant if found to be without the required documents.
According to Rambukwella this move would help authorities to tighten screws on illegal migration, where Sri Lanka has being categorized by the US annual report on the subject as a country in the tier two watch list and a hub for human trafficking.
SLBFE sleuths would also be permitted to do periodical checks on licensed agents premises and their documents if and when they deem it necessary.
Aiding and abetting rogue agents too have been termed as a punishable offence according to the proposed laws.
A part of the fines obtained through fines are to be forwarded to a migrant worker welfare fund.
During this year, SLBFE sleuths have nabbed more than 100 rogue recruiters. In addition more than 30 licensed agents too have been taken to task for alleged wrongdoing. According to authorities over 100 job agencies at present are doing illegal business in various parts of the island but they do not have enough powers to deal with them effectively under existing laws. The SLBFE Act was first introduced in 1985 and has undergone several minor changes since then.

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Cricket, Nation and Religion

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The sight of dozens and dozens of Sri Lankan Muslim youth cheering the Pakistan team and celebrating its victory over Sri Lanka at the last two one-day matches was something that had disturbed quite a few in this country.

When a prominent local Muslim politician was asked for his interpretation of this scenario, he quipped, “Yes it is quite disturbing. May be they don’t have a sense of belonging to Sri Lanka. For some reason they may be feeling they are discriminated”.

It is a fact that an overwhelming majority of Muslim fans especially the adults support the Sri Lankan team and could easily identify themselves with the concept of the Sri Lankan nation. This is despite a tendency displayed by a handful of mischievous elements to light crackers in Muslim majority areas whenever Pakistan beats our national team.

As to why some youth find it difficult to relate to the Sri Lankan identity and opt to support another nation merely because its people follow the same faith is certainly a worrisome matter.

One could have bought out the argument of discrimination if the youth were from outstations where their mother tongue, Tamil at times poses a stumbling block in reaching goals. A degree of alienation also could have been expected from youth in the North and the East where they had to go through innumerable hardships sandwiched between the security forces and the LTTE.

However the youth who gathered for the one-day series were definitely not ones from Mannar or Kaththankudi. They were the Colombo youth most of whom are trilingual and have equal opportunities to rise up in society if they work hard and stay focused on their goals.

There’s a school of thought among non-Muslims that what they saw during the one-day series had a lot to do with growing radicalization among certain sections of Muslim youth. The question they ask is that if Indian Muslims who have regular complaints of discrimination can support the Indian cricket team then why is a section of Sri Lankan Muslim youth who have far less grievances fail to identify with the Sri Lankan team.

One wonders whether things would have been different if Mohamed Maharoof played in the one-day series between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The hard hitting Maharoof is a favourite among Sinhala and Tamil fans while Muralitharan has been an all time favourite among all the communities in the country. If a section of Muslim youth feel Sri Lankan only when a Muslim player is included in the team, then one needs to explore the reasons as to where things have really gone wrong.

Sinhala, Tamil and a big chunk of Muslim cricket fans always rise above race and religion and stand by their country during international matches. In a display of sportsmanship the very same fans even cheer members of rival teams whenever they hit a well-timed boundary or a sixer.

For these people it matters very little what exactly the whole concept of nationhood stands for – whether it is a synonym for a country, State, race or whatever. They just feel the bonding and want ‘our man in the field’ to do well.

Religion for some is a way of life. For others it is not. Patriotism on the other hand is an entirely different concept altogether. It is the responsibility of the elders and the learned to put those who have got their perceptions wrong or mixed up on the right track once again.