Masing: S’wak Border Security Committee tasked to look into mechanism in allowing legal foreign workers to come into state

KUCHING (Feb 3): The Sarawak Border Security Committee has been tasked to look into a mechanism in allowing legal foreign workers to come into Sarawak, said Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing.

He explained the high demand for foreign workers is one of the reasons for illegal immigrants trying to sneak into the state.

“This team will also look into formulating a more structured policy so that these foreign workers can be allowed into Sarawak in structured and safe manner. Like it or not, our industries in Sarawak do need their service,” Masing said in a statement today after chairing the committee meeting.

thesundaypost had on Sunday reported that Sarawak employers face manpower shortage, particularly for foreign workers, to keep their businesses running amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

As announced by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas on Dec 23, 2020, the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) had decided to allow the recruitment of foreign workers to Sarawak with effect from Jan 1, 2021.

However, employers have not been able to apply for permits to recruit foreign workers at the Immigration Department as the application system is still closed due to the pandemic.

One of the worst affected industries is the oil palm industry where, according to Sarawak Oil Palm Plantation Owners Association (Soppoa) chief executive officer Andrew Cheng, all big and small plantations statewide were short of about 35,000 workers.

While renewing permits for existing foreign workers was not much of a problem, recruiting new ones was impossible, no thanks to the worsening Covid-10 pandemic in the country, he said.

“We are still waiting eagerly for any news and standard operating procedures (SOP) to recruit foreign workers from Indonesia,” Cheng was quoted as saying.

Uggah, who is also SDMC chairman, on Dec 23 last year during a Covid-19 update press conference said the committee’s decision was in view of the number of positive Covid-19 cases in the state involving illegal immigrants.

He had pointed out that a lot of the positive Covid-19 cases in Sarawak involved illegal immigrants or PATI (pendatang asing tanpa izin).

He had explained that if they enter the state legally, they would have to undergo proper Covid-19 screening and quarantine before they start working.

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