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KUCHING, Oct 24 (Bernama) — The 12,000 Bangladeshs nationals who will be recruited to Sarawak will only be hired as general workers, specifically in the plantation sector, said Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot Jaem.
He said their recuitment was at the request of oil palm plantation companies in the state to solve the shortage of workers that affected the production of fresh fruit bunch (FFB).
Their intention to recruit the workers was made during a meeting between Riot and the government of Bangladesh when he visited the country recently.
“I have informed the government of Bangladesh that they will only work in the plantation sector.
“The recruitment (of the Bangladeshi workers into Sarawak) will be done in stages as the actual demand by employers will need to be scrutinised by a committee consisting of related government agencies,” he told a news conference here Friday.
Riot said they were those willing to take up jobs that were categorised as the ‘3Ds’ or dirty, difficult and dangerous.
However, he said the decision to recruit these workers would be finalised in a meeting between the governments of Malaysia, Bangladesh and Sarawak this Nov 4 in Kuala Lumpur.
Last Oct 20, the Bangladesh High Commissioner to Malaysia A. K. M. Atiqur Rahman in a function here said 12,000 Bangladeshi nationals would be recruited to work in the various sectors in Sarawak.
The statement subsequently met with all kinds of negative comments, especially in the social media, including accusing the government of sidelining local workers.
Riot hoped the clarification would rectify the wrong perception of the government’s action, including claims that the Bangladeshi workers would be paid low wages.
He said currently unemployment rate in Sarawak was 2.3 percent as compared to 2.8 percent at national level while at the international level any figure lower than four percent was regarded as full employment.
“However shortage of workers in the plantation sector leaves the government with no other alternative but to allow for the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers,” he added. –BERNAMA
Source: Bernama
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