“Safeguard Sabahans in Proposed MAS Retrenchment – Dr. Jeffrey”

KOTA KINABALU - “The Sabah government and the Minister responsible for labour and tourism need to look immediately into the plight of Sabahans in Malaysia Airlines (MAS) who are facing imminent retrenchment,” said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, Chairman of STAR Sabah on the proposed retrenchment of some 6,000 MAS staff.

It is rumoured that of the 6,000 staff to be retrenched, most of them will be from Sabah and Sarawak, so as to give priority to retain MAS staff from Malaya.

If this rumour eventually turns out to be true, it will be gross injustice to Sabahans and Sarawakians and an insult to Sabah and Sarawak who had agreed to form Malaysia in 1963 partly to safeguard the position of the Malays in Malaya.  

It will only add fuel to the raging grievances of Sabahans and Sarawakians arising from the unfair treatment by the federal government relating to the basis of the formation of Malaysia.

The Sabah government need to ensure that the rights and welfare of the Sabahans in MAS are safeguarded at all times and that any retrenchment must be done in accordance with the applicable laws in Sabah.

The Sabah government can also seek special preference for the Sabahan staff and there is every reason for Sabahans to be treated preferentially.

The present federal and Sabah governments need to be reminded that when MAS was launched in 1974, after the break-up of Malaysia Singapore Airways into MAS and Singapore Airlines, the Sabah government then under USNO and Tun Mustapha had loaned the initial seed capital to the federal government to start MAS.

If necessary, the Sabah government should call on this goodwill in the safeguarding of MAS staff from Sabah in the retrenchment exercise.

More importantly, the Sabah government need to ensure that MAS complies with Section 118D of the Sabah Labour Ordinance which requires all non-Sabahan staff of the same capacity to be retrenched first with Sabahans to be retained.  

Section 118D provides that:-

“118D.     Where an employer is required to reduce his workforce by reason of redundancy necessitating the retrenchment of any number of employees, the employer shall not terminate the services of a resident employee until he has first terminated the services of all non-resident employees employed by him in a capacity similar to that of the resident employee.”

This old legislation is part of the legacy of the British colonial masters who had the wisdom to protect Sabah employees under Section 118D.    The Sabah government should call on this legacy and ensure that Section 118D is complied with.

At the same time, the Sabah government should work and cooperate with the Sarawak government to set up a Borneo regional airline which can provide the necessary air travel to Sabah and Sarawak and at the same time to safeguard and promote the tourism industry.

Tourism is a major foreign exchange and income earner for both Sabah and Sarawak particularly in Sabah where some negative impact will be felt due to the cross-border kidnapping in Sandakan last week.

The ranking of the Kota Kinabalu International Airport as the second busiest airport in Malaysia in terms of flights, both domestic and international, and number of passenger arrivals and departures, is a very good indicator that the Sabah government should consider an alternative airline to protect its important tourism industry.