PM should intervene in Indonesia migrant worker freeze - Guan Eng

PM should intervene in Indonesia migrant worker freeze - Guan Eng


DAP chairperson Lim Guan Eng has called upon Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to personally intervene and resolve the temporary freeze of migrant workers from Indonesia coming into Malaysia.

“He (Ismail Sabri) should personally intervene in the fiasco to repair relations with Indonesia and provide economic growth to counter the global economic downturn expected by the end of the year.

“At a time when Malaysia is facing inflationary pressures and rising prices compounded by a rapidly depreciating ringgit, the acute foreign labour shortage has compelled many businesses to scale down their operations or reject new orders,” said Lim in a statement today.

He claimed that the labour shortage of 1.2 million workers has caused RM21 billion in losses in the plantation and glove industries alone. The tally could run into the tens of billions if other sectors are included.

Indonesia implemented a temporary freeze on migrant workers for Malaysia on Wednesday. This prompted Ismail Sabri to order the Human Resources Ministry and Home Ministry to resolve the issue immediately.

This suspension was brought about due to Malaysia’s alleged breach of terms in the memorandum of understanding regarding the recruitment and protection of migrant workers between the two countries signed just three months ago on April 1.

Lim, meanwhile, chastised the prime minister for delegating the matter to the two ministries instead of intervening personally in a “major economic and diplomatic matter”.

“How can both ministries resolve the problem when they were responsible for creating the problem in the first place? […]

“Ismail Sabri should stop delegating the problem but take charge when the nation’s economy, the business community and rakyat want an immediate solution.”