Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Proposal To Allow Refugees To Work Needs Further Study, Says Subramaniam

JOHOR BAHARU, Feb 25 (Bernama) -- The proposal to allow refugees to work needs futher study as it has the potential to give rise to new problems, said Human Resource Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam.

He said his ministry did not want Malaysia to become a magnet for refugees if the proposal was approved by the government.

Subramaniam told this to reporters after launching a job placement programme for the less fortunate and disabled people, here Thursday.

According to him, his ministry had given its views on the proposal, which had been made by several quarters recently, but till now the government had yet to make a decision on it.

Subramaniam said there were some 73,000 refugees in Malaysia presently with most of them from Myanmar and that in principle, all of them were not allowed to work.

He said refugees who come to Malaysia had to be registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and were provided documents to remain in the country for a certain period of time after which they would be sent to a third country.

Subramaniam also said his ministry was in the process of setting up 10 job centres throughout the country to help those seeking employment.

He said the number of such centres would be increased in stages and that their function was not the same as the manpower department.

-- BERNAMA

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