Riot (second right) switches on the lights to symbolically launch the completion of the RES project.

08/12/2014 (Borneo Post) - Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot denies having any personal interest in any deals to bring in 12,000 Bangladeshi workers to Sarawak.

Responding to rumours regarding a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on protocol to facilitate employment of Bangladeshi workers in Sarawak, he said he signed the MoU on behalf of the federal government in his capacity as minister in charge of manpower.

He pointed out the arrangement to bring in Bangladeshi workers was at the request of the state government to meet the shortfall of 62,000 workers in the plantation sector.

“I do not benefit a single sen from this deal, contrary to what some people had been saying about me. In Sarawak, the plantation sector needs 62,000 workers, but we have to get foreign workers because our youths are not interested to work in palm oil plantations.

“If we do not get people to work there, the plantations will not be productive and will not contribute to our economy. And that is why the state government had made such request to the federal government,” he said when speaking at the launch of the RM700,000 Rural Electricity Supply (RES) project in Kampung Mantung Birawan on Saturday night.

He pointed out that the arrangement to bring in the Bangladeshi workers was not an easy one, as he had to fly out to meet his Bangladeshi counterpart.

However, he acknowledged the already high presence of foreign workers in the country and called on the youths especially those without stable jobs to seriously consider taking up skills certification or technical training so that they can fill in the industrialisation needs of the nation.

“There are already over six million immigrants – with valid documents and illegal ones – in our country. Therefore, I call on youths especially in Serian to take up skills certification or technical training to reduce our dependency on foreign workers,” he said.

Riot and Bangladesh Minister of Expatriates’ and Foreign Workers’ Welfare Khandker Mosharraf Hossain signed the MoU on protocol to facilitate employment of Bangladeshi workers in the state, in Putrajaya on Wednesday witnessed by prime ministers of both countries Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Sheikh Hasina.

Based on news reports, the 12,000 Bangladeshi workers would arrive in the state early next year, and if they could fit in well, the government would consider bringing in more workers from Bangladesh in the future.

This imminent influx of these workers has been met with mixed reactions from the public, with worries over its social and economic impact in the state.

Foreign workers in Malaysia sent almost RM23.07 billion back home in the first nine months of 2014, according to deputy finance minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan.

National daily Sinchew quoting Ahmad, reported that Indonesian workers remitted RM4.28 billion to their country – the biggest amount among the different nationalities working in the country. Bangladeshi workers are the second biggest group of foreign workers sending money RM3.23 billion back home in the same period.

Nepal (RM2.690 billion), India (RM1.330 billion) and the Philippines (RM0.8 billion) were the third, fourth and fifth biggest recipients of foreign workers’ remittances from Malaysia respectively.

But these figures may not reflect the real total of remittances by Indonesian workers. Many of them prefer to bring their earnings in cash and do not remit through legal channels and most of them are working illegally in Malaysia.

On another matter, Riot who is also Serian MP called on village chiefs in the constituency to come up with master plans for their villages before the end of the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) on Dec 31, 2015.

He said the data from the master plans are needed to identify and carry out priority basic infrastructure projects so that the villagers are no longer left behind in development.

“My dream and my aim is to see all villages in Sarawak particularly Serian to be on par with villages in the Peninsular Malaysia by 2020,” he said.