In a statement, the association’s president, Yap Cheen Boon, said while the intention is clearly to address the worker shortage issue in the plantation sector, a more in-depth study should be done and all relevant stakeholders consulted before the proposal is put into action.
“The 137,676 registered foreign workers in 2017 pales against the purported 800,000 illegal foreigners believed to be currently residing in Sabah.
“To issue special work passes entails resolving technicalities such as the tenure, spouse passes, children passes (and education needs), quota per company and, most importantly, the procedures and costs incurred, especially to companies wishing to employ them.”
He also asked whether this proposal would open the floodgates for other industries once the plantation sector was allowed to get workers.
He proposed that rather than taking this approach, the government should look into setting up a dedicated human resource ministry for Sabah as this concerned 1.8 million locals.
“The presence of illegal foreigners competing with locals for jobs has pushed down real wages across all sectors and caused capital outflow when their salaries are repatriated.
“Will the proposal allow more locals to be employed in the long run?”
On Tuesday, Chief Minister Shafie Apdal announced that the state government would look into issuing special documents to illegal foreigners working in Sabah to solve the labour shortage, particularly in the plantation sector.
He said the problem needed to be addressed because the oil palm sector was crucial for Sabah’s economic growth and it was important to ensure it had ample revenue.
According to statistics furnished by the state Immigration Department, 137,676 temporary work visit passes were issued to foreign workers in Sabah last year.
A majority of them were issued to Indonesians (123,313), followed by Filipinos (14,283), Nepalese (54) and Myanmars (26).
These passes are for domestic helpers and those working in the plantation, agriculture, services, construction and manufacturing sectors.