BUSINESSES in Sabah find it easier to hire immigrants as they are willing to work long hours for low wages, said owners.

Locals also usually shun the jobs taken up by these migrants as they are menial work which entails long hours, they said.

Sabah Employers’ Association president Yap Cheen Boon said sending back the immigrants would also surely impact on the industries in the state.

“Currently Sabah’s economy is dominated by natural resources. Plantation being one of them, which is labour intensive.

“Not many locals want to work there, so surely a shortage of foreign labour would have an impact.

“The local youth unemployment issue cannot be entirely blamed on foreign labour taking away the jobs as the jobs are mostly low skilled, low pay. The correlation is there, but not directly nor entirely,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Furthermore, Yap said the foreign workers are a big contributor to the state’s economic consumption and, therefore, crucial for Sabah businesses, too.

A Chinese coffee shop owner in Kota Kinabalu, who only wants to be identified as Wong, said he prefers to hire migrants as they are willing to work long hours with minimal pay.

“We open the coffee shop for 12 hours. We provide halal food for them and some even opt to stay in the quarters we provide.

“Like many employers, we also pay them according to the minimum wage,” said Lim, adding that he used to hire locals before but they said they could not cope with the 12-hour day.

A 24-hour Indian-Muslim eatery in Kota Kinabalu said it has six migrant workers – three in the morning shift and the rest on the night shift.

“There is not much work for them during the night shift. So they are often tasked with preparing all the food for breakfast,” said restaurant manager who only wants to be known as Baisul.

Baisul, himself a migrant worker from India, said they earn between RM900 and RM1,000 a month depending on their experience in the kitchen and serving customers.  

According to both Lim and Baisul, their business would not be able to operate smoothly if the Filipino migrant workers don’t turn up for work.

Lim said he is worried the authorities might arrest and deport them back to the Philippines.

“If this happens, it will take some time for me to get another worker. And finally, if a new one comes, it will take time to train him and to ensure my business runs smoothly again,” he said.

For the record, a third of the Sabah 3.9 million population consist of foreigners. Malaysian citizens make up 2.74 million, while foreigners number 1.16 million, according to the Statistics Department.

For decades, tens of thousands of Filipinos fled the southern Philippines to Sabah where jobs are in abundance in the construction, agriculture and food sectors.

However, the sheer number of migrants in the state has been a thorny issue among Sabahans and despite efforts to repatriate them back, many continue to come back. – August 11, 2019.