A Malaysiakini report quoted M Sivaranjani, the national coordinator on workers’ issues for Jaringan Rakyat Tertindas’s (Jerit), saying the country needed more than one person to champion the issue.

She was referring to diploma holder Azrolnizam Sidek, who is currently making waves in social media for taking up the challenge thrown by Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for local youths to take up dirty, difficult and dangerous (3D) jobs.

Azrolnizam, 24, currently cleans drains at a cement factory in Negeri Sembilan for RM800 a month.

“I’m not sure how long he (Azrolnizam) can sustain this. Maybe for a stunt, for a short period, but how long will the people remember this?” Sivaranjani told Malaysiakini.

She said that a movement and action plan was needed to challenge the issue, and that it was only when the message reached a nationwide audience would the government finally listen to the people.

Sivaranjani said Azrolnizam’s pay check of RM800 was not right, and that the job he was doing deserved more.

These developments come in the wake of a heated controversy over 3D jobs and minimum wages following the government’s recently announced plan, now on hold, to bring 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers into the country to work 3D jobs.

Zahid had defended the move, saying local youth shunned these jobs while challenging them to prove him wrong.