KUCHING: Sarawak Oil Palm Plantation Owners Association (SOPPOA) appreciates the state government’s initiative to consider other countries for the recruitment of foreign workers.

Its secretary Philip Ho said the initiative may help ease the current labour shortage in the plantation sector.

He said labour shortage and wastage in the oil palm plantation sector in the state is still a perennial issue.

“On behalf of SOPPOA members, I welcome the state government’s initiative to bring in other nationalities aside from Indonesians,” he said.

“So far, the state government had given the industry players in Sarawak the green light to recruit Bangladeshis.

Ho said the state could not depend solely on Indonesia as its source for workers in the plantation sector because the industry was also booming in Indonesia.

“We are now facing stiff competition from the industry players in Indonesia,” he said.

Ho said the industry in Indonesia was expanding rapidly, adding that it has become increasingly difficult to get additional workers from that country.

He said SOPPOA had sought the state government’s consent to recruit foreign workers from other countries including Bangladesh, Burma, Myanmar and the Philippines.

“Recruitment of Bangladeshis will be done through the Land Development Ministry, which had made the arrangement with the federal government.

“We are now following the procedure set by the federal government, which deals with the Bangladeshi government to bring in their nationalities to the country as plantation workers,” he said.

Ho said according to the proposed arrangement, the employers will have to pick their Bangladeshi workers from the designated point in Kuala Lumpur decided by the government.

He, however, said the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers had not started as there were still a few issues to be sorted out.

“We had a meeting with the Land Development Ministry recently, where we pointed out a few things that need to be resolved.

“We want the Ministry to go back to the federal government to sort these things out before we can make our request for the Bangladeshi workers,” he said.

Indonesians make up 80 per cent of the 98,092 workers presently employed by the oil palm plantations in Sarawak.

The recruitment of Bangladeshi workers, however, is only a short term solution.

He said now the quota ratio is seven hectares to one worker compared with eight hectare to one worker previously.

He said SOPPOA had in fact asked for six hectare to one worker.

Taken from The Borneo Post