Petronas asserts its stand on hiring practices

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KUCHING: The state government’s decision to place a moratorium on all new applications for work permits for Petronas employees from outside Sarawak has raised the concern of national oil company.

In a statement released yesterday, Petronas believed that the decision, announced over the weekend, may have been made based on the wrong perception that its recent group-wide business restructuring had unfairly impacted its employees from Sarawak.

“Sarawak remains a key investment State for Petronas, where its workforce requirement will continue to grow. Petronas expects the majority of the workforce required to meet the new manpower demand will constitute Sarawakians, as per existing recruitment practices. “A number of positions are expected to be filled by experienced employees, which may include non-Sarawakians,” said the statement issued by Petronas’ Media Relations Department Group Strategic Communications here yesterday.

The statement pointed out that the key to the successful delivery and operations of Petronas’ projects in Sarawak is the support and commitment from all relevant parties, especially its teams of qualified, trained and dedicated employees – no matter where they are from.

“Petronas has had a number of engagement and briefings with the Sarawak State Government’s officials at various levels following the restructuring exercise.

“Petronas will continue with its engagement efforts, including with Deputy Chief Minister Dato Sri Douglas Uggah Embas to address the State’s concerns with regards to Petronas’ manpower requirement in Sarawak,” added the statement.

It added that, like many other oil and gas companies worldwide, it will continue to review its business strategies and

manpower requirements for better efficiency and sustainability, to make it more resilient and focused to thrive in the current and future industry landscapes.

The statement was in response to Uggah’s announcement that the State Government had imposed a moratorium with immediate effect on all new application for work permits of Petronas personnel from outside Sarawak intending to work here.

The issue of Petronas staff in the State has been hogging the limelight ever since it was highlighted by Suarah Petroleum Group (SPG) on the abolishment of 29 permanent positions that resulted in the retrenchment of 13 experienced staff from Sarawak by Petronas in its upstream restructuring exercise in Sarawak recently.

SPG president Hamin Yusuf was quoted as saying that the majority of senior jobs were also filled by non-Sarawakians and the influx of Peninsular Malaysians filling the lower level jobs exacerbated the situation for the state.

Since then, leaders from both the political divide have urged the State Government to act fast to stop workers from other states from depriving Sarawakians of job opportunities in the national oil company.