In response to Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s proposal to bring in 1.5 million additional Bangladeshi workers into Malaysia, I would like to make a counter-proposal that the government should consider to use the 1 million illegal immigrants who are already here in Sabah.

In fact it could a better solution to settle these illegal immigrants in Sabah since there are so many vacancies and needs to be filled in Malaysian workforce market.

Most importantly, if government can set up a mechanism to allow these illegal immigrants to be legalised as formal workers, it might a win-win solution to help these illegal immigrants in Sabah who are mostly unemployed and lack opportunities in Sabah, which eventually would led to serious social-economic problem such as crime.

I must stress that DAP’s stance and policy is consistent that we think Malaysia must reduce its reliance on foreign workers and develop its high value human capitals in order to achieve high-income nation status, but since the government is so insistent on bringing in so many Bangladeshi workers for the plantation field, then why don’t we use these illegal immigrants in Sabah who are already here?

According to latest Malaysia population census, Sabah was reported as having around 1 million non-citizen population, which comprises nearly 30 percent of the total population in Sabah. Therefore instead of bringing in more Bangladeshi workers, why doesn’t the government give the same opportunities to these immigrants in Sabah?

Since the government and royal commission of inquiry (RCI) report had failed come up with any solution to resolve this problem, it is better to let these illegal immigrants be legalised to work anywhere in Malaysia.

STEPHEN WONG TIEN FATT is Sabah DAP chairperson-cum-MP for Sandakan.