Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing said government must begin to re-focus on assisting labour intensive industries which are facing shortage of workers. – AFP file photo
BINTULU (Aug 14): The Sarawak government must begin to re-focus on assisting labour intensive industries which are facing shortage of workers, including foreigners, such as oil palm plantations, manufacturing and construction.
Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing, who pointed this out, said these are the challenges of a stagnating economy in recovery.
Hence, in-depth discussions and research are needed to form a set of feasible comprehensive solutions while curbing the pandemic at the same time, he suggested.
“We must assist employers in legally hiring foreign workers in a safe and well-regulated manner to solve the manpower shortage.
“It is understood that nearly all economic sectors in Bintulu face a lack of labour to keep their operations going. Though the estate has a bountiful harvest, it is of no use if there is a shortage of hands to harvest them,” Tiong said in his Facebook post yesterday.
He noted that manufacturing factories or construction industry also face issues with completing a project on schedule and being hit by late delivery penalties.
These different factors all bring skyrocketing losses to businesses of various sizes, he said.
Eventually their losses will also cause the state government to suffer revenue loss, he added.
“Without official support and channels, employers may be tempted to take risks and obtain foreign labour through irregular means, using middlemen and other entities that charge high fees but without security and liability.
“This means that the influx of these unverified and untested workers could hinder the Health Department’s efforts to curb transmissions of Covid-19. Contact tracing would be compromised and endanger the entire community,” he added.
Tiong also suggested that the Sarawak government start talks with employers to formulate a mechanism to hire selected workers who are in detention centres due to expired work permits.
It can consider adjusting the limits on the number of workers each employer may hire.
In addition to being more cost-effective, this mechanism means that there is no need for employers to introduce new batches of foreign workers. Workers who are already detained here can be returned to the field much more quickly, he said.
The MP also suggested that at the borders, the government must identify suitable hotels or temporary quarantine centres exclusively to house incoming foreign workers to ease the management and future tracking of these individuals.
This entire process should not be left to outsourced operations which would incur greater costs and reduce control, stressed Tiong.
“I must stress that this entire process must adhere to the standard operating procedures to prevent Covid-19, standardising the quarantine period to 21 days or longer, with frequent tests.
“No one can accurately predict when Sarawak will successfully contain the pandemic. We cannot wait and let the labour shortage continue to the detriment of the market. Let’s gradually inject vigour into the economy to help business thrive again and revitalise people’s livelihoods and peace of mind,” Tiong said.