Sabahans in Singapore welcome to work at home – FSM
“We believe that is always good for our workers to be exposed overseas, to gain experience and bring those know-how and skills back to the State.
“So, we always welcome them to come back home and work here, to use their experience and help develop the state’s industry,”
he said when commenting on the new ruling imposed by Singapore that it no longer allows workers from Sabah and Sarawak under the age of 35 to work there.
The new ruling which has yet to be made official by the Ministry of Manpower in Singapore, would effectively bar fresh workers below 35 years old from entering the republic while those within that age group and already working there would not be allowed to renew their work permits after they expire within two years.
Wong said there are plenty of job opportunities available in the State and experienced workers coming back from Singapore would not have any difficulties finding employment.
“I cannot say much about the pay as Singapore obviously offers better pay but Sabah definitely needs people to work in almost all sectors.
“This is why we have a lot of foreign workers coming into Sabah, because there are a lot of job vacancies here.
“Of course the pay is lower compared to that in Singapore, but the fact is that we do need workers and have enough vacancies for the locals, provided they are willing to work.
“If they can work in Singapore, I have no doubt that they can find work here easily, except maybe if they are too specialized in certain discipline or skills, but for general workers they should not have problem finding jobs here,” he said.
Meanwhile, Wong said the introduction of the blanket punishment for employees from Sabah and Sarawak in Singapore was regrettable and could be viewed as tarnishing the image of the State.
Instead of imposing such discriminatory laws, he said the Singapore government should examine the cause as to why Sabahans, or other foreign workers in Singapore for that matter, were involved in crime activities in the country.
The authorities, he added, should identify the contributing factors and then communicate with Malaysia and the Sabah government on any proposal or ideas to deal with these factors.
He noted that there were cases where honest workers from Sabah were dubbed into criminal activities by crime network operating in several countries.
“There are young people who went overseas with job agencies thinking they would be given honest jobs but end up being forced into drug trafficking or other criminal activities.
“Some other workers suffered financially after being cheated by their agent, who promised them certain salary but when they get there the pay is not even half of what was promised, making them an easy target for crime recruiters.
“However, I believe Singapore must have some figures on crime involving Sabahan workers to back the new law. The republic is quite an organized country and it is easy to think that it must have a good reason for imposing such a ruling.
“It must be quite serious where Sabahans represent a high percentage of the crime figures in Singapore that the government has to resort to banning Sabahan workers from entering the country.
“But we don’t know the real situation. What is the extent or percentage of crime involving Sabahans, and if it is true that the number is that high that warrants for such a drastic move, then it is of course embarrassing for us, and indeed bad for our image,” he said.
He stressed the Singapore government needed to be absolutely transparent in dealing with the issue, and provides proper justification before imposing such a law that could be unfavorable to diplomatic ties with the Malaysian government.
He said it was unfortunate for Sabahan workers to be known for the wrong reason but young people in the State should take it as a constructive lesson and a reminder to behave themselves while they are in other countries like they would at home.
“They must remember that they are not just imported workers but represent Malaysia and Sabah, and they are basically ambassadors of their home country.
“Whatever it is, this new ruling by Singapore should serve as reminder to all our young workers overseas to always respect the law of the country they are working in,” he said.
by Murib Morpi
Tidak perlu bekerja tempat orang lain.
BalasPadamtempat sendiri lagi bagus.
PadamMasalah saja di Sabah ini gaji tidak seberapa dengan diluar negara. Tapi yang penting dapat teruskan hidup.
BalasPadamSabah byk peluang jika tau manfaatkannya.
PadamPeluang pekerjaan memang sentiasa ada jika kita berusaha mencari.
PadamMembaiki kelayakan diri dan pasti ada peluang pekerjaan yang menyesuaikan.
PadamIf there are well experienced and qualified for the job specification.
BalasPadamIt is a good thing to welcome those away from home to work once again in Sabah.
BalasPadamLet come back contribute to local economy.
PadamNew exposed experience is needed in the state.
BalasPadamIt is good to have Malaysia representatives overseas.
BalasPadamKita tunggulah dan lihat bagaimana perbincangan antara wakil negara kita dan wakil Singapura.
PadamLet's see what happens afterwards.
BalasPadamDiharap kerajaan Singapura akan memberikan penjelasan teliti mengenai sekatan ini.
PadamBagus juga kalau mereka kembali bekerja di Sabah, tapi tindakan kerajaan Singapura membuat demikian seolah-olahnya diskriminasi terhadap rakyat Sabah dan Sarawak.
BalasPadamDiharapkan kerajaan Singapore akan mempertimbangkan semula.
BalasPadamkerja saja la di negeri sendiri.. tidak perlulah ke singapura..
BalasPadamsikap double standard kerajaan singapura pasti akan memakan diri mereka sendiri..
BalasPadammungkin kerajaan Sabah dan Sarawak juga perlu mengambil tindakan yang sama iaitu memutuskan hubungan atau kerjasama ekonomi dengan negara Singapura..
BalasPadamHarus faham apakah tujuan kerajaan Singapura berkeputusan sebegini.
BalasPadamKerajaan Singapura berhak membuat apa, harus juga hormati keputusan masing-masing. Carilah kerja di tempatan, mungkin ada peluang yang baik juga.
BalasPadamSingapore appreciate all kind of expert in all industry. What about Malaysia?
BalasPadamUnemployment in Sabah is relatively low at 5.2 per cent and has not increased despite a population growth.Based on figures by the Department of Statistics, the rate is higher than the national level at three per cent but comparable to Australia which is regarded as a fairly resilient economy, and half of France which stands at about 10.2 per cent.
BalasPadamIn comparison, the unemployment rate in the US and UK is 8.1 per cent while Spain and Greece are at 25.1 per cent and 24.2 per cent respectively. The principal statistic on employment for last year showed that there were over 1.64 million in the labour force in Sabah, increasing from almost 1.59 million in 2010 and 1.35 in 2009,” said Youth & Sports Minister Datuk Peter Pang En Yin Pang.
BalasPadamPang who is also Deputy Chairman of SEDIA was speaking at the opening of a public forum on ‘Human Capital Investment in SDC’.There were only about 85,200 unemployed citizens in Sabah last year which is a small figure when compared to the number of foreign labour in the State, especially those in the plantation and the construction sectors.
BalasPadam“What is very much needed now is to locate where these unemployed citizens are and ascertain their qualifications and skills to enable them to be trained so that they can provide a pool of human capital geared to drive the economic transformation programme,” said Pang.He said the State government with the Halatuju Agenda also recognised the critical role of human capital development and initiated the Sabah Manpower Requirement Study (2010-2025) to replace the Sabah Manpower Master Plan 1983/84 which is no longer relevant to the current economic environment.
BalasPadamThe ongoing study is industry-based with Phase 1 covering four industries namely agriculture, resource-based manufacturing, tourism and Information & Communications Technology.The Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) has identified the Sandakan Education Hub and the Interior Education Hub as human capital development clusters.
BalasPadamPang said SEDIA also visited and discussed with local and foreign higher learning institutions on academic and R&D collaborations, as well as enticed institutions to consider setting up campuses in Sabah.Pang also announced that SEDIA has been appointed to implement, manage and monitor placement and funding under the National Talent Enhancement Programme (NTEP) which aims to financially assist underemployed and unemployed Malaysians possessing diplomas, undergraduate degrees and higher qualifications secure employment with companies within the SDC.
BalasPadamAt the event yesterday, Pang also witnessed an exchange of collaboration agreement between SEDIA and the NTEP Hosting Companies.“I call upon more companies to participate in this NTEP programme. I also call upon job seekers who are keen to participate in this programme to register your interest with SEDIA,” he urged.
BalasPadam