SLBFE getting ready to splurge again on overseas talent star

The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) has once again decided to pour money into another round of their reality-TV show "Rata Viruwo Talent Star" (or "Overseas Heroes Talent Star.")

The Bureau is now publishing advertisements requesting sales quotations for "judges," "compères," "stage set ups," "music bands," and "recording of episodes."

The show was held last year for the first time where Sri Lankans working in Middle Eastern countries participated in a singing competition judged by luminaries such as Malini Fonseka.

However, not all are enthusiastic about the second round of the show. Migrant worker rights activists ask how the Bureau can afford such a programme.

"We are not saying a singing competition show is bad, but this is merely a PR stunt by the Bureau to avoid addressing real issues faced by migrant workers in Middle Eastern countries," Lakshman Nipunarachchi of the JVP-affiliated rights group Ethera Api (Us Abroad) told the Sunday Times. "One or two people who might be doing well there participate in this programme so the Bureau can say everyone there is fine. There are serious problems our workers face in these countries. Instead of addressing them, they waste a large amount of money on things like this."

Bureau Media spokesperson Mangala Randeniya refused to disclose the amount of money spent on the show last year.

"We can't reveal those things," he said. "But we had sponsors."

When asked who sponsored last year's show, Mr. Randeniya said foreign employmnt recruiting agents sponsored the show. Mr. Nipunarachchi called such sponsorships "unholy alliances" that shouldn't be happening.

"The Bureau should be independent, it shouldn't be forming these sorts of relationships with recruiting agents," he said. "Now these agents can always have a psychological hold over the Bureau, and in certain situations, say 'if you do that, we'll pull our money.'"

François Crépeau, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, who visited the country earlier this year noted that recruitment agents are "overly represented in the Bureau's Board," even though the Bureau is supposed to regulate them. He also highlighted the lack of a comprehensive law to protect the rights of migrants.