State labour department director Wan Zulkifli Wan Setapa said there was a worrying trend every year as 200,000 residents were recorded leaving Sabah in search of job opportunities.

He said Sabah also relied on foreign workers in the plantation, construction, restaurant and agricultural sectors, and according to immigration department data, there were more than 135,000 non-resident workers in the state, more than 50% of whom were Indonesians.

“If the relocation of the Indonesian capital to Kalimantan in 2024 attracts Indonesians who are working in Sabah, (even) if 50% of these (Indonesian) workers leave, the state economy could collapse.

“This is my concern and industry players also need to come to grips with reality.

“Related parties need to look at the matter in order to find an alternative or exit policy to overcome and resolve the (labour) issue,” he said when speaking at the 2022 Sabah Labour Convention here.

Wan Zulkifli said the federal government, the state and industries needed round-table talks to find a solution to the issue.

When met by reporters later, he said all parties needed to brace themselves for the eventuality because the two-year horizon was not that distant as Sabah was already facing a labour crisis.

According to him, there were currently 1.8 million foreign workers in Sabah, as recorded by the statistics department.