PUTATAN: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Yahya Hussin yesterday told employers in the state, especially those in the agriculture industry, to trust the local manpower.
“Have confidence and trust (on the local manpower), because if you do not, when will they ever have the opportunity to show their skills and ability. Give priority to the locals first,” he said.
The Agriculture and Food Industry Minister believed that by supporting the local manpower, employers were also playing their roles as true citizens of the country.
“This is our state, we sing the state anthem and should practise what we sang. It was high time for us to get the locals involved. We have to develop our own people to work everywhere, from the highest to the lowest.
“This is what is meant by loving your country. We cannot say that we love our country when we are not showing our support. The locals, on the other hand, should not expect to be officers. Even sweepers and labourers are jobs, so if we do not take up such work, we have no choice but to employ foreigners. Today, they (foreigners) are already venturing into businesses,” he said.
Yahya was commenting on reports that foreigners were found to be involved in the agriculture-related industry, either planting, selling or trading in Kundasang.
“This land belongs to us, it does not belong to foreigners. But, the locals are partly to be blamed. They are too eager to make easy money, fast money, so they just employ anyone to work on the land,” he said.
He also said that there should also be control on the deployment of foreign workers, adding that it should be done based on the skills and requirement.
“There are enough workers locally. They are available, so employ locals first rather than foreigners.
“We have training centres to train our young people. We spent so much money on training, so get these people, get them employed.
“Maybe farmers and land owners do not know we have ready-made manpower. So please refer to the Agriculture Department in their respective areas, we are willing to help. We produced a lot of skilled workers and it would be a waste not to utilise them,” he told reporters after presenting certificates to graduates at the Integrated Farming Training Centre here yesterday.