KUALA LUMPUR: Inai Kiara Sdn Bhd, one of Malaysia's largest dredging specialists, has started rehiring Malaysians who had lost their jobs with the company.
Inai Kiara's staff strength used to run up to a few thousands with some 95 per cent being locals, but it is now down to less than 500 people due to financial pressure as a result of Covid-19.
"We are open now to rehire and our priority is Malaysian, Malaysian and Malaysian," Inai Kiara chief executive Quzaim Mohamad Guljar Mohamad told the New Straits Times.
"Looking back, it saddened me that too many jobs we had to cull because of this episode but now it angers me. Angry because those jobs could have been saved. Due to Covid-19, maybe not all but definitely some," he added.
Quzaim pointed out that the bone of his frustration was at boiling point when he heard former transport minister Anthony Loke allegedly said the company was bankrupt in Parliament.
This followed the award of a long-term contract for dredging and reclamation works at the country's ports to Inai Kiara's unit Integrated Marine Works Sdn Bhd recently.
Loke reportedly had criticised the government for not announcing the appointment as it involved a matter of national interest.
Quzaim claimed that the former minister refused to meet Inai Kiara which had written to him several times.
"We were never bankrupt. To think that the misinformed stance had caused so much pain to so many, pains me. This (Asia) is a continent with a population of 4.56 billion people. We are a Malay company which got zero soft loans from the government, grants from the goverment and zero government investment into the company.
"When we were dying because of the financial pressure, it angered me to know that we had a transport minister who refused to meet us and now we know that he thought we were a bankrupt company. I wonder why the ex minister did not verify the facts?" he asked.
Quzaim said according to the current Transport Minister Datuk Wee Ka Siong, from the RM2.28 billion worth of contracts it completed todate, Inai Kiara had reinvested some RM2.2 billion into the business.