KUCHING: The temporary ban of its citizens by the Indonesian government from working in Malaysia is unfortunate news to the construction industry, says James Ha Tung In.
Ha, who is chairman of Sarawak Building and Civil Engineering Contractors Association (SBCECA), believed that the freeze would cause the continuation of labour shortage—already acute currently—and affect the progress of work.
“It will also force desperate contractors to pinch workers from each other by raising wages, which will be an added financial burden.
“Besides that, more projects will be delayed further and be classified as sick projects, which contracts can be terminated by project implementing agencies,” he said when asked for his thoughts on the issue, today.
Ha cautioned that with no migrant workers coming in, it could be the last straw that send contractors down the financial trouble path.
“Thus, long overdue drastic action from the government to assist contractors financially to avoid the collapse of construction industry is needed.
“The government needs to act urgently to resolve the issue with Indonesia in order to resume smooth passage of migrant manpower intake.
“Our government agencies such as the Immigration and Labour will need to speed up the process of intake to enable speedy economic recovery. Economy has been seriously affected by the poor performance of government agencies so far,” he pointed out.
He said the other way that could be considered to overcome the shortage of migrant workers was the government should allow more sources of migrant workers “so that we will not be too dependent on Indonesian workers only.”
“And if possible, enforcement agencies are urged to temporary stop the frequent raids on construction sites to round up illegal workers who are currently contributing positively to the construction industry and economic recovery,” added Ha.
