Arakan News Agency
KUALA LUMPUR: Allowing refugees holding the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) cards to work in Malaysia will only set a precedent for them to demand other rights, said Deputy Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Abdul Muttalib.…
He told Dewan Negara that the government will not allow UNHCR card holder to work in the country.
“If we give them the right to work, they will ask for other rights such as education and medical in the future. We understand and sympathised with the fate befalling these refugees. We are responsible to help them but not in the way of allowing them to work here,” he added.
Ismail was responding to an additional question by Senator Datuk Yoo Wei How who had asked if the government will consider giving special approval for employers to employ the refugees.
He said the country was already being flooded with 1.9 million foreign workers who took up jobs that could have been taken by locals.
“We fear by allowing them to work, it will lead to manipulation and fraud abuse of the UNHCR cards,” he said, adding that this might cause the entrance of many more refugees which are currently waiting at our borders.
Ismail also said at the moment the government is not planning to allow UNHCR card holders to work in Malaysia due to several factors, among others it would be against the Immigration Act 1959/63 which did not allow those without valid travel document to be salaried.
On Monday, UNHCR had appealed to the government to allow the refugees who are predominantly Myanmar national to be allowed to work in the country.
Source :thesundaily
