KUALA LUMPUR – Not many people realise that the government’s official unemployment statistics takes into consideration migrants who are jobless and have not returned to their home countries.
Tuaran MP Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau has taken issue with this, reasoning that it complicates the authorities’ efforts to ease the unemployment situation among Malaysians themselves.
He said the unemployment figure should be restricted to only Malaysian citizens.
These migrants should, by right, go back to their countries of origin once they are no longer gainfully employed, he stressed.
He asked why it is that they do not return after they are no longer working in Malaysia.
“I am baffled by the logic of including the migrants into the unemployment statistics in Malaysia, especially for Sabah,” he said.
“It does not reflect the real situation, and reflects as if the government recognises the migrant workers just like the locals.
“This is not right and should be given serious attention,” he said in a statement.
Tangau has also sought clarification from the federal government as to whether the migrant workers in Sabah include undocumented migrants, stateless persons and the IMM13 holders.
IMM13 is a visit pass issued by the Immigration Department to refugees. Most of them are those who moved to Sabah following unrest in the southern Philippines in the 1970s and 1980s.
While there are also Indonesians holding IMM13 papers, Filipinos make up the majority.
The pass holders are allowed to stay in Sabah and Labuan, and can work without having to apply for a work pass. They are also allowed to go to school and get medical services from the government.
Tangau said the number specified for the jobless should only apply to Malaysians as this would allow the government to really focus on assisting them to get jobs.
He added that there is a possibility that Sabah may not have the highest unemployment rate in Malaysia if the migrants are excluded from the statistics.
“I am also wondering why the migrant workers are allowed to go about freely when they are jobless,” he said. “Supposedly when they are no longer working, should they not be sent home to their respective countries?”
In the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, Tangau, who is also the Upko honorary president, posed the question to the economy minister over the jobless figure in Malaysia, especially Sabah.
He also sought an explanation as to why migrants are included into the statistics.
In a written reply, minister Rafizi Ramli said there are 581,400 persons currently unemployed based on the Statistics Department 2023 second-quarter Labour Survey Report.
Of this number, Sabah reported the largest number of unemployed with 165,600 persons, which includes the migrants in the state. – The Vibes, October 25, 2023
