SINGAPORE: Singapore's government has said that it is not banning Malaysia workers from Sabah and Sarawak, rebuking earlier media reports that had said the city-state was barring young men from Malaysian states after a few citizens had been charged with murder in Singapore. The Ministry of Manpower said that reports suggesting that workers from the Borneo states were barred from working in Singapore were untrue. “We continue to approve the work permits of workers from Sabah and Sarawak who are found to be eligible and suitable to work in Singapore," the ministry said in a statement issued through the Singapore High Commission on Sunday. It argued that like all other countries, including Malaysia, foreigners “were required to meet various criteria to be eligible to work in Singapore.” The ministry did say that it “had tightened the criteria on the hiring and retention of foreign manpower over the last few years to moderate the growth of the foreign workforce and promote productivity-led growth. “As a result, there are workers from various sources, not just from Sabah and Sarawak, who may not meet the more stringent criteria and requirements to work in Singapore," it said. Reports had suggested that Singapore was barring any Malaysian from Sabah or Sarawak under 35-years-old from working in the Southeast Asian country, but the ministry said these reports were false. The new ruling was allegedly imposed as an “administrative punishment" after a series of crimes and fights involving rowdy native Sabahans and Sarawakians in the republic. The Singapore government has set the new restrictions after a string of murders have been reportedly been carried out by Malaysians from Sabah and Sarawak. The new ruling had caused much difficulties to law-abiding Sabahan and Sarawakian native men, mainly unskilled and odd job workers to work on the island. Fresh workers below 35 were barred entry while those within that age group and already working there could not renew their work permits after they expired within two years. Gagasan Dayak Iban Bersatu Malaysia (GAIU) president Sai Malaka said although the ruling was not made official by the Singapore Manpower Ministry (MOM), all work permit applications by native men from Sabah and Sarawak below the age of 35 were automatically rejected. “I feel this measure is very extreme and discriminatory towards native Sabahans and Sarawakians," one worker had told Bikyamasr.com last week when the initial reports were made.
