SARAWAKIAN natives, including Penans, have been retrenched en-masse by certain plantation companies, claimed Sarawak Parti Keadilan Rakyat's Senator Abun Sui Anyit.
"I was surprised to read that a Sarawak Minister had announced that the state government is in the process of recruiting thousands of Indonesian workers from Kalimantan.
"The minister said Sarawak oil palm plantations and mills are seriously short of workers.
"If that is the case, why is the state government not going into all our rural longhouses to recruit local natives to fill these vacancies?
"I have just got the news that there are local natives who have been retrenched in certain plantations.
"In the Belaga district, I found 124 Penan workers who had been retrenched from a plantation without good reason.
"The state government must insist that local natives be given priority first for plantation jobs," said Abun.
He stressed that there are many jobless youths and adults in longhouses in rural Sarawak.
"Go seek out these jobless locals first before resorting to recruiting foreigners," he said.
On Jan 7, it was reported that the state needs to recruit tens of thousands of plantation workers from Kalimantan urgently and is negotiating with Indonesia to streamline working visa applications on both sides of the Sarawak-Kalimantan boundary.
Sarawak Minister of Food Industries and Commodities and Regional Development Datuk Seri Stephen Rundi Utom said the applications for working visas at present were bogged down by too much red tape. - January 10, 2025
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