MIRI – The authorities have been urged to ensure that thousands of foreign workers at remote camps operated by timber companies and oil-palm plantations in rural Sarawak be screened for Covid-19 immediately.
Society for Rights of Indigenous People of Sarawak (Scrips) today called on state government leaders and the state health department to look into the matter urgently.
Scrips secretary-general Michael Jok said there is a high possibility that these foreign workers have not been screened for Covid-19 as their camps are in remote pockets throughout the state.
He told The Vibes the virus can spread easily among these foreign workers due to their cramped living conditions, just like the situation in longhouses now.
"There are thousands of foreign labourers, especially Indonesians, employed in logging camps and plantations.
"In my home district of Belaga (in central Sarawak 600km inland from Miri) there are at least 10 big timber and plantation companies.
"They have huge camps all over their operation zones where these foreign workers work and live,” he said.
"Their living quarters are known to be congested and cramped.”
Jok stressed that any Covid-19 case among these foreign workers would spark a chain of infections that could spread to surrounding local settlements, too.
The native rights activist was commenting on the latest findings by the Sarawak Labour Department that many companies who employ foreign workers have not sent them for mandatory Covid-19 screening.
It was found that at least 10,000 workers in four southern Sarawak districts from various foreign countries have not been sent by their employers for the compulsory Covid-19 tests.
Sarawak Labour Department Director Awang Radman Awang Omar yesterday said his department is leading a team to carry out checks on foreign workers in a bid to curb the spread of the deadly virus in the state.
"We have a 30-member team from our department, Socso (Social Security Organisation), Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DoSH), Immigration Department and other agencies on the ground now,” he had said.
“So far, we have carried out checks on 1,175 employers in Kuching, Samarahan, Lundu and Sematan until February 9.
"They employ 12,208 foreign workers but 10,995 of them have not been screened for Covid-19 yet," he had said in a press statement.
Awang had said his office has issued a warning to employers who have yet to send their foreign workers for screening.
They were given 14 days to comply with the directive, he added.
Jok today said priority should also be given to checking foreign workers in remote localities such as Belaga, Kapit, Baram, Bario and Bakelalan.
Earlier this morning, the federal Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Committee announced the cabinet’s decision yesterday that all foreigners, including undocumented migrants, residing in the country will be given free Covid-19 vaccinations. – The Vibes, February 11, 2021
