Yong : Sabah should reject influx of 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers

KOTA KINABALU - The Sabah government should firmly reject the importation of Bangladeshi workers into Sabah from among the 1.5 million workers to be brought in to Malaysia starting later this year, says Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Yong Teck Lee, on Saturday.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has been reported as saying that 1.5 million workers from Bangladesh will be brought in to Malaysia in stages over three years to work in various fields, especially in the plantation sectors, in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak. It has been one full month ever since the Home minister revealed the plan but the Sabah government has been strangely silent on the issue.

"To have tens of, if not hundreds of, thousands of foreign workers from another country, on top of those from Indonesia and Philippines, will compound the social problems in Sabah. It is inevitable that any huge population of foreigners will bring with them a different set of problems. Currently, in Peninsula Malaysia, foreigners from Myammar, Nepal, Indonesia and other countries are wrecking havoc on society like serious crimes, hygiene and squatters.

"Sabah, with our own set of social problems arising from the huge population of foreign workers and illegals, can ill afford another influx of foreign workers from Bangladesh. We are already battered by the proliferation of illegals, dubious citizenship documents, marriages of convenience between foreigner workers and local women.

"The earlier the Sabah government put a firm stop to such federal interference in Sabah's labour market, the better it is for Sabah," Yong told.