SpotLight: An end to cheap source of foreign labour

NST Online, 2008/08/14

Coffeeshop owners like Brian Lee rely heavily on foreign workers.

SEMPORNA: Brian Lee, 49, started his coffeeshop here 25 years ago and has been relying on foreign workers ever since.

Like most coffeeshops in this coastal town of Sabah, 80 per cent of its staff are Filipino workers. Lee is bracing himself for the acute labour shortage the statewide immigrant crackdown will bring.

Even though his business has survived past raids, he is worried this time the pool of workers will shrink even further as the scale of the crackdown would be much larger.

"The fact is we can't do without these foreign workers. The locals don't want to work in coffeeshops and even if they do, they don't last very long."

Many entrepreneurs want illegal immigrants to stay in the country but oppose creating a path to citizenship for them.
But Lee's only problem with the foreigners is the immigrant children accosting strangers and tourists in the streets, begging for money.

"We can't let this go on. What's going to happen to them when they grow up?" he asked.

He also called for staggered payments of the foreign workers' levy (instead of one yearly lump sum) and a reduction of the fee.

"The cost is too high now. Some of them even run away less than three months after we have settled the levy. Once they have legal documents, they demand higher wages."