KUCHING, Nov 2: Sarawak Housing and Real Estate Developers’ Association (Sheda) reminds its members especially building contractors who have yet to recalibrate the status of their foreign workers to do so before the deadline on Dec 31.
Its president Augustine Wong in a press statement today said there are still some members taking their sweet time to apply for the recalibration although the association received encouraging responses from its members on the recalibration initiative.
“Sheda hopes these members will make the correct decision, do the right thing which is to ‘legalise’ their workers and not give the construction industry a bad name.
“Sheda understands that most of its members are sub-contracting out their building jobs to subcontractors and they should encourage their sub-contractors to start applying for recalibration now,” he said.
Wong explained that Sheda members only have around one month’s time minus yearend festivities to recalibrate the status of their foreign workers with the deadline set for Dec 31, 2021. The government has promised large-scale enforcement will be carried out starting January 1, 2022.
At the same time, Wong warned Sheda members not to submit their application last minute and expect a miracle for their application to be approved as due diligence and strict processes had to be followed by Sheda for the recalibration application.
On Oct 26, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin announced that employers employing illegal foreign workers have until end of December 2021 to recalibrate the workers’ status before a large-scale enforcement operation would be carried out to identify undocumented foreign workers.
Following the announcement, Wong said Sheda has received many inquiries on the recalibration exercise.
He added Sheda had embarked on a ‘recalibration programme for migrant construction workers’ in Sarawak for its members to ensure fast-tracked and smooth processing in the calibration of status for qualified migrant construction workers.
These include foreign workers with expired work permits and passes, as well as those who have changed employers.
For more information on the recalibration exercise, contact Sheda’s secretariat via phone (082-366334, 082-366434), fax (082-365001), email (secretariat@sheda.org.my), or WhatsApp (016-8972723, 016-8882856). — DayakDaily
