PBS:
Extend registration to 6 months
LABUK, Aug 10 (Daily Express) -- The Government
should consider extending the registration period for paperless
foreign workers in Sabah, said Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS)
Chief Information Officer, Johnny Mositun.
He also called
on the Government to consider applying the same procedures
to foreign workers in the hospitality and services sector
similar to those extended to Labuan.
According to
him, the sector in Sabah would be further affected by shortage
of workers following the migration of many skilled local
workers to Kuala Lumpur where the income is far greater.
Mositun who was
launching a PBS Labuk Annual General Meeting here, said
the three-month period might not be sufficient to register
all the illegal foreign workers in Sabah, hence defeating
the purpose.
"Perhaps
the government should consider extending it to six months,"
he said at the Beluran Community Centre.
Nonetheless,
he said while the move was positive in order to safeguard
Sabah's economy which depended heavily on foreign labour,
the Government must also draw a line so as not to be seen
as too accommodating to the illegals.
"We need
to send them home first to allow them to obtain the necessary
travel documents after we have registered and taken their
photographs for easier identification once they return,"
he said.
At the same time,
he said the illegal foreign workers must also bring along
their dependents home as the country's law disallows them
from bringing family members while engaged to work here.
Towards this
end, he hoped employers would reciprocate the Government's
understanding by reporting immediately all their paperless
foreign workers and not wait until they get arrested.
Community leaders
like the JKKK and village heads as well as the public need
to heed the call by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman
who is also the State Operations Director to cooperate by
providing information on any presence of illegals in their
areas.
In this respect,
he said PBS fully supported the move initiated by the Government
to weed out illegal immigrants from Sabah.
"We thank
the Special Cabinet Committee chairman, Datuk Seri Najib
Tun Razak and the Chief Minister for making such a strong
stand," he said, adding that the offensive would be
the largest and most comprehensive so far.
Mositun said
the exercise must not be politicised, especially by the
opposition "who are now silent but will jump and make
noise when seeing just a minor hiccup affecting the operations".
"It will
be like "mengambil kesempatan dalam kesempitan"
(taking advantage of a difficult situation)," he said,
adding that everyone needs to support the move since it
is for the good of the people in Sabah, particularly.
On another note,
Mositun commended the Labuk division for emerging stronger
after the General Election.
"Despite
facing some problems before the election in the end Barisan
Nasional (BN) emerged victorious both in the Labuk State
seat through our division chief Datuk Michael Asang and
Beluran Parliamentary seat through our counterpart Umno
candidate Datuk Ronald Kiandee with among the biggest majorities
in Sabah," he said.
"As leaders
and supporters of PBS we have met so many problems before
and successfully overcame each of them patiently while we
were in the opposition and now in the Barisan Nasional.
His call was
also echoed by Labuk PBS chief, Datuk Michael Asang who
is a PBS Vice President. The 51 branches in the division
unanimously passed a resolution to give their mandate to
party President Datuk Seri Joseph Pairin Kitingan to continue
leading PBS.
The division
also became the first to call on Pairin to continue as President
after the party's election in 2009.
Later, Mositun
accompanied by Asang received applications from 141 former
Parti Keadilan Rakyat members to join PBS.
