The current government has to answer for the frauds of the previous government
The current government has to answer for those who were caught in the frauds of the previous government’s politicians…
The sending of ineligible people has caused many problems in the foreign employment sector…
Koshala Wickramasinghe
President, Foreign Employment Bureau
The current government officials have to provide relief to the people who were helpless due to the foreign employment frauds committed by the previous government’s politicians for their personal gains and to answer for them, says Kosala Wickramasinghe, President of the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau.
He made this statement while participating in a program to provide jobs in Japan for eligible youth from families receiving Samurdhi and Aswesum benefits organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism and the Ministry of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment at the Bureau today (24.01.2025).
Speaking at the event, the Chairman said, “At a time when the current President and the government are working to create a better future for the Sri Lankan youth, it is important for all of us to come together and properly utilize this great opportunity to create job opportunities in a developed country like Japan.
Starting today, we are working together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism and the Ministry of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Infrastructure to provide opportunities for youth to find job opportunities in Japan. The Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau and the Department of Samurdhi Development are taking the lead in this.
Just as we clean the environment, it is also our duty to clean the minds, thoughts and actions of people today. The concept of “Clean Sri Lanka” is a good start for this. We should all make a change in knowledge, feelings and actions to make our country a complete country that has taken a step forward. That is the main objective of the “Clean Sri Lanka” program.
The Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau is directing our youth community under the TITP and SSW categories for job opportunities in Japan. IM Japan provides us with great support for that. We also express our gratitude to the Japanese Ambassador.
For jobs in Japan, it is essential to know the Japanese language. Therefore, I urge the youth to learn Japanese well if they have a hope of going to Japan. Passing exams like JLPT / NAT is a good qualification to get jobs in Japan.
If you are going to work in any country, you should have good skills and training. That also affects Japan. I will give an example of a situation where that did not happen. The Israeli government had promised us ten thousand agricultural jobs. When they hired about 2200 people, they decided to stop it. The reason is that in the past, some people, using fraud as their main objective, were directing people who were not capable and qualified to work in the agricultural sector in Israel as a way to earn money.
The political authorities at that time deceived the entire youth community in order to increase their votes and to cheat their henchmen. Today, we have to pay the price for that. But as a responsible government, we do not have time to be accused. Therefore, we held urgent discussions with Israel and took steps to reactivate the existing agricultural jobs. For that, they were willing to hire our youth for agricultural jobs again on certain conditions. Accordingly, we recently started this selection with the support of the Sri Lankan Army.
“In 2023, 357 people went to Israel for work and in 2024, 2242. Of these, 80% have fled their jobs. The reasons for this are the factors I mentioned earlier. Therefore, we select people for foreign employment in a transparent manner and according to the correct methodology, without being subject to any influence,” he said.