Idris, Lo set to meet for first time at forum since feud over jobs creation
KUCHING: Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu ( PBB) Information chief Dato Idris Buang and Malaysian Trades Union Congress ( MTUC) Sarawak secretary Andrew Lo are expected to meet face- toface for the first time since their recent verbal feud over jobs creation in Sarawak.
The two are to be among several speakers lined up for a forum on jobs creation, organised by non- partisan civil action group Rise of Sarawak Efforts ( ROSE), which is slated to take place on March 16.
The venue and time of the forum have yet to be made known.
When met Saturday, Idris said he welcomed the effort by ROSE and planned to use the forum as a platform to extend an olive branch to Lo ‘in the spirit of brotherhood and Sarawakian harmony’, before presenting facts and figures concerning jobs creation.
“I bear no personal grudge against Lo or any MTUC Sarawak leaders. How could I be against MTUC Sarawak when I have family members, relatives and friends as members in it? I consider MTUC Sarawak as strategic partner and staunch supporter of the Sarawak government,” he said.
Lo, when contacted yesterday, said he too welcomed the initiative taken by ROSE in organising the forum.
The feud between Idris and Lo began last month when Lo, among other things, said via a press statement that Sarawak’s failure to create decent- paying jobs through its politics of development was what had driven tens of thousands of Sarawakians to seek employment either in Peninsular Malaysia or overseas, over the past decades.
Lo had been commenting on the predicament faced by the 40 Sarawakians, who were among 47 Malaysians jailed in Cambodia, saying they had been forced to try their luck in a foreign land due to limited opportunities back home.
Lo’s statement did not go down well with Idris, who called it ‘ totally outrageous’ and ‘ made with a political agenda’, claiming it was not passed in any meeting of MTUC Sarawak.
The Muara Tuang assemblyman, in his own statement the following day, stressed that jobs creation has always been a priority of the Sarawak government in its efforts to stimulate economic growth and development.
He said it was ‘ unreasonable and unfair’ for the MTUC Sarawak secretary to generalise the state of jobs creations in Sarawak based on the incident in Cambodia.
Lo, meanwhile, responded to Idris by stressing there was a difference in creation of jobs, and creation of decent jobs, saying it was pointless to create jobs in certain sectors or industries where 80 per cent of employees are only paid minimum wages, despite some having worked for more than 10 years.