Malaysian Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar has promised to ensure that the removal of the blanket ban on the hiring of Hindu priest and artisans from India will be implemented by the state Immigration departments soon. He said that many fresh application were recently rejected because the new ruling to allow Hindu priests, musicians and artisans to get three-year work permits had not been passed down to these departments.
from The Star
Problem of Indian priests, musicians to be solved soon
PUTRAJAYA: The problem faced by Hindu and Buddhist temples and Sikh gurdwaras applying for priests, musicians and artisans from India is temporary and can be solved, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar.
He said the new ruling to allow these priests, musicians and artisans to get three-year work permits had not been passed down to state Immigration Departments causing many applications to be rejected.
“Now we have given a written directive to state Immigration officers to do the needful and they will be monitored.
“If there are still problems, the matter can be referred to my ministry and we will try to solve it,” he told reporters Thursday after having discussions with Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam on foreign worker issues at the Home Ministry here.
It is learnt that when the Cabinet passed the new ruling, the Immigration Department had changes made to its top officers resulting in the directive not being implemented at state offices.
Syed Hamid was commenting on Malaysian Hindu Sangam president Datuk A. Vaithilingam’s complaints that although the Cabinet had lifted a blanket ban on Indian priests and temple workers imposed last December, the Home Ministry was blocking the process.