KOTA KINABALU – More than 1,000 Sabah Forest Industries (SFI) workers have been left in the lurch over RM23.4 million in unpaid wages as the high court here ordered the company to wind up next Monday.
With salaries owed since April to 1,032 workers, Sabah Timber Industry Employees Union (STIEU) secretary-general Engril Liaw said this amounts to more than RM23.4 million.
“The amount in backdated pay could come up to RM2.6 million a month.”
On Monday, financially troubled SFI was ordered to wind up by the Kota Kinabalu High Court after failing to pay a RM2.6 million debt.
Judge Leonard David Shim gave the order under the provisions of Section 465(1)(e) of the Companies Act 2016 for RM2,699,244.24 indebted to petitioner Lee Khoon Hoo & Anor, and supporting creditor Sabah Development Bank.
SFI was established by the Sabah government in 1982 and was sold to a number of private companies, including one-time India’s largest pulp and paper manufacturer Ballapur Industries Ltd.
SFI went under the receivership with Grant Thornton and was believed to be sold to Pelangi Prestasi Sdn Bhd, a company linked to tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokthar Albukhary.
However, the acquisition was crippled after Pelangi Prestasi caught in a legal tussle with the state government under Warisan, which made new terms and conditions on timber licences to the firm in June 2019.
While this was happening, SFI workers were already faced with backdated salaries.
In April, Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor assured the workers would be paid, but since then, he has been quiet over the SFI controversy
Letter to PM
Liaw said the workers are facing a hard time trying to make ends meet and the state government, which has a small share in the company, has been silent on the matter.
“The state government has not stepped in and resolved the problem. They are using this as a political tool. They are attacking each other over this matter.
“So, just recently, I had sent a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office, hoping the respectful office of the prime minister would step in and solve the workers’ problems.”
She said these workers have families, and they still need to put food on the table and send their children to school.
She added that the Human Resources Ministry has issued the order to settle the backdated salaries in December, but the firm has yet to settle it.
The Vibes has attempted to reach out to some of the SFI workers who live largely in Sipitang, some 137.8km from here, but they have refused to comment for now. – The Vibes, November 19, 2021
