KOTA KINABALU – Local man Jack Samuel, 54, started working in Sabah Forest Industries (SFI) in 1986, a time when the pulp and paper company was the talk of the town and pride of Sabah.
“Everyone wanted to work at SFI. It was a glorious time, seeing it was part of the state government’s grand plan. It was envisioned as an industrial estate where the workers would live in a community, work and play here – like a small self-sustaining city,” said the father of four, who had been laid off by the firm recently.
SFI manages a 712,000-acre forest estate in the Sipitang district in southwestern Sabah. There, Samuel lived in one of the housing units built for more than 700 workers in the estate.
It was established in 1982 by the then Berjaya government as part of former Sabah chief minister Tan Sri Harris Salleh’s vision, and continued under the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) administration despite Berjaya’s defeat in the 1992 state polls.
Samuel, who worked in the shipping and logistics department, said SFI had its best years after the Lion Group acquired it, when PBS privatised the pulp and paper operation in 1994, with the state government retaining just over a 2% stake.
“The company was able to declare annual bonuses between one and three months and there were also annual increments,” he said, adding that workers’ welfare were taken care of.
But all good things come to an end. Samuel said trouble started when SFI was sold for RM945 million to Indian pulp and paper manufacturer Ballapur Industries Ltd in 2007 when Lion Group ran into debt.
On September 9, the Lion Group paid an out-of-court settlement that included claims made by 760 workers amounting to RM3.45 million, much of it over unpaid salary increments from 1997 to 2006.
Despite brisk business, Ballapur too was caught in debt and wanted to sell its stake in SFI. The operation subsequently went under the receivership of Grant Thornton Consulting Sdn Bhd in 2017.
A legal tussle ensued after Pelangi Prestasi was reported to have acquired all SFI assets for RM1.2 billion, just before the 2018 general election. Pelangi Prestasi filed a judicial review over the Sabah government’s decision to impose new terms for timber licences in June 2019.
The transfer of existing timber licences cannot be transferred to a third party and Grant Thornton, the receivership and manager, was supposed to procure fresh licences from the Sabah government on behalf of Pelangi Prestasi.
However, on November 15, SFI was ordered to wind up by November 21 by the Kota Kinabalu High Court after failing to pay debts amounting to RM2.6 million. It has reportedly not paid salaries for at least four months at the start of this year.
SFI helped grow the Sipitang economy
Former SFI worker Mazli Amlih, 54, said the paper mill machinery had stopped working in 2016, but some departments such as security and water treatment kept working although manpower was halved.
“We have been laid off and salaries have not been paid since April. But we are grateful as Grant Thornton has allowed us to stay in the housing for now. I have a feeling it is just a matter of time before we are evicted,” said the father of four.
He said it was disappointing that the situation had gone south for the families of 1,038 workers after SFI was told to wind up.
“SFI used to be the main source of income, not just for the workers, but for local businesses and restaurants. Imagine, more than RM2 million in salaries, with most of them channelled into the local economy.”
Mazli said it was the SFI workers’ salaries that made Sipitang a lively town, not the Petronas-owned Samur – the Sabah Ammonia Urea factory.
“Samur only hires a few hundred people. They are high earners. They probably shop for necessities in town, but I believe most of them do their shopping in malls in Kota Kinabalu, which is about three hours away.”
Surviving on EPF and Socso money
As jobs now are hard to come by, former SFI workers Bolin Tongoi, Edelberto Perez, and Siti Aminah Ali are dependent on Socso’s Employment Insurance Scheme and EPF withdrawals via the i-Citra and i-Sinar schemes.
“These are the only things that have kept us going,” said Tongoi, who has gone without a salary and stable work for five months.
He said although five of his six children have jobs, his youngest is still in college.
The same goes for 48-year-old Perez, who has been finding small home renovation jobs for income.
“My two girls are in college. One of them is a freshman. She had to work part-time in the local vaccination centre to pay for her semester fees of RM2,300. Lucky for her, her PTPTN loan had come in.”
Perez said his only son, who had just completed Form 5, is working at the local tyre shop to help the family with his RM30 daily wage, while his wife takes cake orders and sewing jobs.
Meanwhile, Siti Aminah, who worked as a tele-clerk at ITC, the plywood manufacturing branch of SFI, has to work as a domestic helper twice a week, earning RM80 a week.
It does not help that her husband can only do light work such as cutting grass after recovering from an illness.
“We used to work in SFI together, but he resigned and took a job in Kota Kinabalu. Sadly, he had to return to Sipitang after falling ill. Now, I’m the breadwinner of the family,” said Aminah, who is a mother of four girls.
She said two of her children are in school and one is about to enter college. Her eldest is now a fruit picker in Australia and sends some money home.
Victims of people in power
Sabah Timber Industries Employees Union president and former SFI worker Martin Andong said he has exhausted all venues asking for the government to step in to address the workers’ plight.
He said he had been given the runaround by those in the state and federal governments despite writing to Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Md Noor, state industrial development minister and Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Joachim Gunsalam, and Sipitang MP and Deputy Finance Minister Hafez Yamani Musa.
“At first the Chief Minister’s Office told me to talk to Hafez. Hafez said it was a state matter but promised to help us. But he has yet to give us any positive response. This is all lip service.”
Andong claimed that a minister’s aide said the SFI issue is beyond saving and showed that Hajiji’s assurance to the media is false.
“If he was truthful, SFI’s HR department would have informed us or issued a memo. But there is nothing. So, without documentation, I will not believe a word they say.” – The Vibes, November 28, 2021
