Gerakan Anak Sarawak (Gasak) has called on the state government to give priority to Sarawakians – not Bangladeshis – when recruiting workers for the the oil palm sector.

Its president Abun Sui Anyit said yesterday Chief Minister Adenan Satem should re-think the policy of bringing in Bangladeshi workers to fill vacancies in the plantations.

“It (Sarawak) should stop being dependent on foreign workers and focus on employing locals,” he said in a statement.

Abun Sui ( left ) was commenting on the move to bring in 12,000 Bangladeshi labourers to work in the oil palm plantations in the state.

The first batch of 5,000 is expected to arrive in April.

In a statement to Malaysiakini last night, Abun Sui said that Gasak, comprising a loose network of civil society organisations, expressed their outrage and deep concern about the policy.

“The state government disregards the unemployment of Sarawakians in the state,” he said, when it brings in migrant workers in such big numbers.

He claims it deprives locals from the employment opportunity and may bring other side effects to the state.

‘No Projek IC in Sarawak’

Citing Sabah as an example, Abun Sui said foreigners outnumber the locals, claiming the migrants took away their business and employment opportunities.

He said they do not want to be faced with migrant workers subsequently becoming citizens of Malaysia through what was known as ‘Projek IC’.

“We don’t want this (Projek IC) to happen in Sarawak,” Abun Sui said.

He claimed that the increasing number of foreigners in Sarawak could also lead to other side effects like criminal activities and social problems.

The riot in Singapore caused by Bangladeshi workers were a good example, he said.

Abun Sui urged the authorities to offer the jobs to locals, targeting those who stay near the plantations.

“The Sarawak government can bring back tens of thousands of Sarawakians who are now working and or are unemployed in Peninsular Malaysia to come back to work in Sarawak.

This should have been the state government’s first option, he added.

 

NGOs to hold demonstrations

“We don’t want the Malay saying of ‘ Anak kera di hutan disusukan, anak sendiri di rumah mati kelaparan ’ (the baby ape in the forest gets breastfed while your own child at home dies of starvation) to happen to us Sarawakians,” he said.

Gasak wants Adenan ( left ) to put a stop to the policy and instead, abide by the slogan ‘IMalaysia, People First’, by giving priority to Sarawakians to fill the vacancies before offering to foreigners.

The network also wants the Land Development Minister James Masing to engage local Dayaks and other natives of Sarawak to fill up the vacancies in the oil palm industry.

He said that Gasak, together with other NGOs such as the Borneo Resources Institute Malaysia (Brimas), Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (SADIA), Sarawak Indigenous Lawyers Alliance (SILA) and Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (JOAS), have decided to organise peaceful demonstrations in major towns and cities in Sarawak on Feb 28.

“This is to show that we are very serious in protesting against the intention of the state government to bring more foreign nationals to work in Sarawak,” said Abun Sui.