‘Sabah workers could jump to Indonesia when Kalimantan is capital’

SANDAKAN – The federal Human Resources Ministry has warned employers in Sabah over the possibility of losing the state’s labour force to Indonesia once Kalimantan becomes its capital.  

Its deputy minister Mustapha Sakmud said the ministry is greatly concerned with the likely outcome and is now working closely with the Sabah government to focus on employees’ welfare to keep Sabahans and migrant workers working in the state.  

“We don’t want Sabah to become like Johor and other peninsular states where a lot of their human resources have been outsourced to Singapore.  

“Malaysia is already facing a brain drain issue and we don’t want it to become worse when Kalimantan, which is very close to Sabah, becomes Indonesia’s capital,” he said, adding that 1.1 million Malaysians are working in Singapore.  

Hence, he said, Sabah employers must be ready to work with the ministry to focus on their workers’ welfare, which would include giving a reasonable salary in accordance with education level, skills, and productivity, as well as pay raises.  

“When I worked as an engineer (about 30 years ago), my salary was about RM1,800. It is not much different from now; newly graduated engineers earn slightly above RM2,000. So there is a problem here.  

“If we want to keep our human resources here, we have to be fair to them and care for their welfare. We cannot simply pay everyone the minimum wage only because it is still legal.  

“We have to adjust our employees’ wages accordingly based on many factors including their experience, productivity, level of education, and so on,” he said.  

Mustapha said this in his speech during a dialogue session with Sawit Kinabalu and local NGOs at the Luboh Estate, Sawit Kinabalu, Mile 12, here today.  

At a press conference later, Mustapha said other than employers playing their roles to keep local talent n Sabah, his ministry has also taken several initiatives including pushing for amendments to Sabah’s Labour Ordinance (SLO) so that employees in the state can enjoy the same benefits as those in the peninsula.  

The last time that the SLO was amended was in 2005.  

If the amendment is passed, among the improvements that Sabahans will enjoy are 98 days of maternity leave instead of the current 60 days, and seven days of paternity leave instead of none.  

In addition, Mustapha also proposed for Sabah to set up its own state-level TalentCorp to attract, nurture, and retain local talent.  

Meanwhile, Mustapha said like the rest of Malaysia’s states, Sabah faces a high dependency on foreign labour, especially in the palm oil sector.  

On this, he said the ministry is determined to focus on creating skilled human capital through technical and vocational education and training to support mechanisation in the state’s various sectors. –The Vibes, July 15, 2023