BORNEO DIALOGUE IN JOHOR?

By : DAP MEDIA

THE Kota Kinabalu Member of Parliament Hiew King Cheu will be attending a dialogue session set on the 26th of June starting from 2 to 5pm in the Hotel Li garden in Pasir Gudang, Johor, to meet the many Sabahan and Sarawakian who are either working in Johor or Singapore.

This is a function organized by the DAP Johor aiming at getting to understand more closely the various problems and situation faced by the Sabahan and Sarawakian who are working away from home in Johor. The main speakers of the function will be the DAP National Advisor cum Parliament leader Lim Kit Siang, the Sarawak DAP chief Wong Ho Leng, Chong Jen Yin, and Hiew King Cheu from Sabah.

This function will have also the purpose of fostering a closer relation with them and to establish contacts for these people who are working away from home. They have various problems here and they do need assistance from a party like the DAP who care for them.

MP Hiew and the Sabah DAP vice chair Edward Ewol Mujie were in Singapore last month to pay a visit to the Malaysian High Commission in Singapore with the sole objective to learn more about the situation and problems faced by the fellow Sabahan and Sarawakian. The many young people working away from their East Malaysia home are having difficulties here and there, and they do need help.

Hiew visited many remote poor kampongs in Sabah, and he found most of the young people had moved out to work in the towns, and these young people working in Semananjong and Singapore are mostly from the poor districts in Ranau, Tambunan, Kota Marudu, Kudat, Pitas, and the interior district.

They just couldn’t find any job and they can’t earn a living there, therefore they have to move out and risk working in a place far away from home. This is really a sad story and we noticed that the young people are not having a good time away from home too. Many of them had ended up in disaster and being ill-treated. Their living condition and earning were not as promised by the agents who brought them over in Semenanjong, in fact a beautiful picture was painted to attract them to sign up.

Hiew urged the Sabah government to set up certain strict rules and guide lines to ensure these young people are not being exploited and make use off by others. Their well being and future must be protected, and the government must give them opportunities and create jobs for them to work at home in Sabah.

We need a steady work force here, but why is the government not encouraging the local youth to stay back to work here. The government is working to legalize the illegal foreigners to allow them to work and stay in Sabah legally, but they have actually taken away the work opportunity of the many locals. This situation must be reversed and put right.