Kota Kinabalu: A senior Sabah Immigration Department officer told a briefing on the Feb. 15 to Aug. 15 grace period for rehiring illegal workers by legalising them that the problem of foreigners holding fake IMM13 and other papers in Sabah is widespread.Tuan Asani (pic), who was representing the Director, said this was why it became necessary to also haul up those with IMM13 papers for verification, together with those without valid documents whenever an operation is carried out."However, all genuine IMM13 holders are released soonest after checks show that their papers are in order," Asani told the briefing for Kota Kinabalu Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
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He also said that the IMM13 status which is accorded only to Filipino illegals and which has been the subject of repeated calls by Barisan Nasional components for its abolition, were allowed for employment from a humanitarian aspect.Sabah Builders Association President Cheong Kwee Min demanded to know why workers who had IMM13 were subject to arrest and detention when the police and immigration personnel raided construction sites.
"The fraudulent identification papers issue is serious in Sabah," he said, echoing the remarks of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Zahid Hamidi, who recently convened a special meeting on the issue following numerous raids in the peninsula yielding Filipinos having fake documents obtained through syndicates while in Sabah.Asani said migrants who entered Sabah on student visa, etc, and overstayed are not eligible to be legalised for employment under the rehiring initiative.
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Eliciting thunderous applause from attendees, Cheong also criticised the Labour Department for approving a fewer worker quota than what employers seek for their business which is illogical and unreasonable.Local employers prefer to employ locals because of lower costs while administrative compliance costs for foreign labour are high, but in many cases, there is no easy choice available for employers. "For example, if an eatery employer wanted five foreign workers, the quota approved will only be two to three workers."
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Cheong said the authorities should help Sabah's businesses by approving what had been applied for to meet sufficient work force requirement. For builders, they do not necessarily know tender exercises they participated would be successfully awarded to them, and from projected construction schedules, different set of skilled workers would be required at different points in time, and how the authorities could ascertain how many workers to approve to an employer.All foreign workers have to pass health screening by Growarisan, the appointed health agency to screen them. And not all could be cleared to be approved.
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To prevent abuse, the department explained that they did their assessments based on the business requirement, size of operation, business accounts, etc, to reach their decision, to strike a balance between employment chances for locals and economic migrants.For construction contracts, the department looks at the date of award of the project, the contractual period to the completion, etc, to arrive at their decision. - David Thien
