KUCHING: Allowing foreign workers to be hired starting Jan 1 next year as announced by the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) is welcome news for the economy’s recovery, said Datuk Sim Kiang Chiok.
The Sarawak Housing and Real Estate Developers’ Association (Sheda) Kuching branch chairman said this measure would help the economy to recover from the various lockdowns and help to slowly put back the state’s human resources capacity to pre Covid-19 levels.
“The government is also pump-priming the economy with various initiatives including infrastructure and construction works,” he said in a statement today.
He said developers will be able to engage more contractors with these workers to restore the capacity to build houses to keep up with the eventual demand, especially in the affordable housing segment.
“The reskilling and retraining of our local workers will take time and these jobs in the oil palm, construction, and house maid sectors are not attractive to our local workforce as they are considered as 3D jobs – dangerous, dirty and difficult,” he said.
He noted that Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg had previously announced that there was a shortage of 5,000 workers in the construction sector due to the Covid-19 restrictions in place.
“Our borders have been closed to foreign workers since the enforcement of the movement control order (MCO) in March and with the good work done by SDMC in keeping infection rates low, the state is now ready to allow foreign workers to enter” said Sim.
He said SDMC’s announcement had spelt out clearly that all new recruitment must complete 14 days of quarantine and undergo Covid-19 testing twice, with all costs to be borne by the employer including transportation cost from point of entry to quarantine centres.
“This is to ensure that there will be no imported infections in our community” he said.
He said that with the expected arrival of the vaccine next year, the nation could start to plan its economic recovery.
“Until the vaccination programme is fully completed, there is still the risk of having further spikes in infections and lockdowns to be implemented.
“We still need to observe the standard operating procedure (SOP) of washing our hands, wearing face masks, and maintaining social distancing,” Sim emphasised.
