Dato Sri Tiong Sing Sing
BINTULU (Aug 23): The Bintulu Division Disaster Management Committee (BDDMC) must make it compulsory for foreign workers to show letters from their employers in order to take an RT-PCR test, opined Bintulu MP Dato Sri Tiong King Sing.
“This is important to protect the health and safety of all people in Bintulu due to the current influx of foreign workers, which has caused a sharp rise in confirmed cases.
“Law enforcement agencies must take strict action to apprehend irresponsible middlemen, agents, and employers who selfishly exploit loopholes to stop the terrible consequences of rising cases,” he said in a statement.
According to him, over the past few weeks confirmed cases among foreign workers have been consistent; making pandemic prevention efforts here more difficult.
Tiong claimed employers have continued to import foreign labour illegally and have been perfectly willing to look the other way if their workers test positive.
“Worse still if their infected workers disappear and these irresponsible employers shirk all follow-up actions and simply let the government fix the problem,” he claimed.
He opined employers have ignored the importance of preventing the pandemic for the sake of their own selfish interests, to the extent of working with foreign and local middlemen to smuggle in workers through ‘jalan tikus’ (illegal routes).
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“Unfortunately, this mentality continues and more and more illegal foreigners continue to come in and hammer the pandemic prevention efforts.
“These were the views that I brought up in yesterday’s special meeting of the Bintulu District Disaster Management Committee,” said Tiong.
To further compound matters, he claimed foreign workers who are Covid-19 positive have refused to cooperate with the Health Department by telling the truth when interviewed about their whereabouts.
Tiong said this makes it incredibly difficult for the authorities to find their close contacts to carry out the necessary quarantining and testing.
“This will inevitably cause the virus to spread even more widely. Totally unfair to all other people who have complied with the SOPs to prevent transmissions of Covid-19,” he added.