By Luke Rintod
Misbehaving
Sabahans and Sarawakians irk strict Singapore government.
SINGAPORE: Employers in Singapore
are shunning unskilled Sabahans and Sarawakians applying for work in the
city-state mainly because they are causing problems in the republic.
Unrestrained
drinking, frequent fightings in public places and other activities have been
cited as the reason for the downturn in demand for workers from these two
states.
While there
are no official announcements or rules, rumours are rife here that employers
cannot employ workers from the two Borneo states.
It is
understood that preference is being given to others for jobs in shopping malls,
restaurants or any service-based businesses here.
This has
not always been the case.
Just two
years ago, employment agents in Kota Kinabalu and Kuching were doing a brisk
business recruiting and sending Sabahans and Sarawakians, some as young as 16,
to work in Singapore.
An employer
here, who hired Sabahans, told FMT that it was now more difficult to get work
permits for fresh young Sabahans to work in many of the service sectors in
Singapore.
“Three
years ago we could. Now it is more difficult.
“In fact,
in some cases only those aged above 35 get in or those who already have a good
work record here manage to have their permits renewed to continue working,”
said the employer who preferred to be known as Tan.
Tan said he
did not know the reason why Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower (MOM) was making
it more difficult to obtain permits for workers from Sabah and Sarawak.
Strict immigration laws
But it is
common konowledge here that some workers in the affected sectors are known for
their heavy drinking, fighting, indiscipline and even involvement in drugs.
The
republic, which has strict immigration laws, has already adopted alternative
measures to mitigate the shortage of workers in various sectors.
Workers
from Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and Taiwan as well as India, Sri Lanka,
Thailand, Bangladesh, Myanmar, the Philippines and China are now being welcomed
into the state.
From June
this year, in order to ensure potential workers understand the regulations,
Work Permit In-Principle Approval (IPA) letters for foreign workers must be
printed in the workers’ native language.
It is part
of an ongoing government effort to make its communications to employers and
their foreign workers clearer and more transparent, MOM said in its website.
It is not
known how many Sabahans and Sarawakians are currently working in Singapore, but
industry sources said they could be in the hundreds, if not thousands.
Lester
Gualan, a Sabahan, who worked in a restaurant in Singapore for awhile, told FMT
he was keen to go back but he could not get a work permit.
“I was told
by my friends that only those Sabahans above 35 years are able to get permits
now,” he said.
A quick
look around here found many Sabahans and Sarawakians, young and old, loitering
around City Plaza, their favourite rendezvous over weekends.
They were
also seen loitering ear the red district of Geylang, well known for its night
life.
In the
past, some Sabahans and Sarawakians have complained that their Singapore
employers were working with recruiting agencies in the two states to exploit
them and that the employers and agents rarely fulfilled their contractual
obligations to the workers.
Source : FMT
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