Bernama file photo for illustration purposes
KUCHING (Feb 19): Sarawak will urge Putrajaya to allow foreign workers to enter the state legally from next month to counter the influx of illegal immigrants who bring the risk of Covid-19 with them, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
The SDMC chairman said that despite numerous operations to curb illegal entry of immigrants from neighbouring Indonesia, some still managed to enter the state through illegal entry points.
“We have been implementing Ops Benteng and Ops Sapu, but those did not seem to be sufficient, and that’s why we implemented Ops Jala to find illegal immigrants who managed to get through into Sarawak.
“Now that Ops Jala is done, there are still some who managed to enter the state illegally. Fortunately they were apprehended.
“That’s why SDMC has decided to recommend to the federal government that by March (this year) we should allow foreign workers to come into Sarawak, and with allowing legal foreign workers, we hope this illegal entry would be minimised because by having legal foreign workers we can make sure they would be tested (for Covid-19) and they become healthy,” he said.
At the same time, Uggah said the federal government is carrying out a programme to recalibrate illegal immigrants being detained in the country so that they can legally be absorbed into the job market to provide the manpower requirements for the country which have been in shortage since the country closed its borders since the start of the pandemic.
The post Uggah: S’wak hopes Putrajaya will allow foreign workers to return in March appeared first on Borneo Post Online.