On Tuesday 14 June 2011, Office of Labour Affairs in Malaysia in coordination with the Royal Thai Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, headed by the Thai Ambassador to Malaysia, went to assist in election preparation in Kuching, East Malaysian State of Sarawak. (The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching took almost 2 hours)
On the election day, a lot of Thai people including Thai workers living in Sarawak and Sabah turned out to exercise their right. Most of the Thai workers work in construction business and restaurants.
The Office of Labour Affairs in Malaysia, on this occasion, met and discussed with the director of Sarawak Immigration Office (Dato Robert Lian) and deputy director of Sarawak Immigration Office (Mr. Kadir bin Sapian) about current situation of Thai labour, and Malaysian government amnesty policy on illegal migrant workers. The director of Sarawak Immigration Office said that the government will consider implementing the policy in Sarawak after it has completed evaluating the operational result in the mainland, noting that it will keep Thai authorities update on the issue. The Thai Ambassador expressed his appreciation to the director of Sarawak Immigration Office for having taken good care of Thai workers and facilitated the Global Upline workers in returning to Thailand. The Office of Labour Affairs in Malaysia also went to visit Thai workers at Pandan Thai Delight and Lok Tien restaurants.
Elections will also be held in Johor state’s Batu Pahat and Johor Bahru districts during 17-18 June 2011 and at the Royal Thai Embassy in Kuala Lumpur during 24-25 June 2011.
