KOTA KINABALU – About 2,000 workers of Sabah Forest Industries Sdn Bhd (SFI) claim they have not received their salaries since February, and voiced their dissatisfaction on social media recently.
This is not the first time SFI employees have complained about not being paid. In 2017, the Sipitang forest reserve and papermill company faced financial difficulty when it was under an Indian paper manufacturer, Ballarpur Industries Ltd.
They were not paid a month’s salary at the time. The Sabah government then owned 2% of the company.
Has the state given up on SFI?
Ownership conflict
SFI has been without an official owner since May 2018. In April 2018, a company named Pelangi Prestasi Sdn Bhd was set to take over SFI from Ballarpur.
SFI at the time was reported to be struggling financially. It had incurred a net loss of RM354.7 million in 2017 and the factory ceased operations.
Pelangi then paid a 10% deposit of RM120 million for SFI’s assets days before the 14th general election in 2018.
But, when Warisan assumed leadership of the state government following the election, it imposed a new set of conditions on Pelangi and refused to issue a new timber licence.
Pelangi took the matter to the Kuala Lumpur High Court in 2019, but has yet to see a result.
Immediately after the conflict, then chief minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, who is Warisan president, told the press that the state government would pay the employees their salaries as it still had a responsibility to ensure their livelihoods were well taken care of.
“Shafie did what he said. Our salaries were distributed without a problem during Warisan’s time, despite the ownership problem of the company,” said SFI staff clerk Dayang Rosmawatye Salleh.
Dayang, who has been working for the company for 10 years, claimed that the salary problem only began after Gabungan Rakyat Sabah took over the state government in March last year, and said she has not received her salary since February.
“It has been two months since we have been without pay, and we expect that we will not receive our pay for April, too.
“We are victims of the situation. We feel that the current state government is neglecting us and has forgotten that we are here,” she said.
“We are still working and coming to the office as usual, even though the factory has stopped operating. We deserve our pay,” the mother of one said.
Dayang said the factory stopped production in 2017, but its other departments, such as administration, are still running.
“The affected employees are still required to come to work. They have been doing odd jobs, like helping other departments and cleaning the factory,” she said.
‘Economy affected’
Sabah Timber Industry Employees Union secretary-general Engrit Liaw, who is a project assistant with SFI, said employees are now taking to Facebook to air their concerns as it is the only platform for them to get the attention of the state government.
Imagine the 2,000-odd local employees in Sipitang. If we include their family members, how many people are affected here?
“This has also affected the economy in the district as its buying power has been reduced significantly since February.
“At least the previous chief minister (Shafie) stood up and helped us,” she said.
Liaw said SFI employees have not received official information or any explanation on the status of the company.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Trade Union Congress’ Sabah branch secretary Catherine Jikunan said the congress is aware of the situation and has been trying to schedule a meeting with the state Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Yakub Khan to solve the problem.
“We have been trying to reach the state government on this. The (unofficial) reply that we get from them is typical: the state government only owns a small portion (2% during Ballarpur’s ownership) of SFI.
“That should not be an excuse because they (the workers) are Sabahans, and the government should be responsible for their welfare.
“We have tried other methods such as going through the media, but the state government has yet to respond,” she said. – The Vibes, April 18, 2021
