KUALA LUMPUR – The palm oil industry is encouraged to source its foreign labour from India and Pakistan as the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry attempts to battle the manpower shortage in the sector.
Its minister, Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin (Ampang-PBM), said that the two countries were identified as a short-term solution to address the issue, disclosing that there are presently “policy problems” with Indonesia and Bangladesh.
“We (the ministry) are having problems with Indonesia and Bangladesh in terms of policy,” she said during question-and-answer time in Parliament today.
“We feel that the best way to solve the pressing problem of labour shortage is to immediately bring in workers who can help with the picking of palm fruits.”
The minister was responding to a supplementary question from Sim Tze Tzin (Bayan Baru-PH) regarding the ministry’s present policy on foreign workers as he claimed that there are contradictions between its policies.
“The government says that it wants to reduce dependence on foreign labour but then they open the door as wide as it can go for foreign manpower.
“What is your actual policy? Do you want to reduce reliance on them or do you still want to continue?” he asked.
Earlier, Zuraida had said that the short-term measures taken by Putrajaya included negotiation sessions between the government and other source countries so that foreign workers can be brought into the workforce in the near future.
Noting that this will increase the productivity of the palm oil sector, she also said that long-term mechanisms to overcome the issue include encouraging industry players to adopt the usage of machines in the workflow.
She pointed out that the government had re-opened the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System since February 15 in the hopes that the added manpower will alleviate the labour shortage problem.
“The government is also empowering local human capital by upskilling them through training courses in the plantation sector under the Malaysian Institute of Plantation and Commodities,” she said.
On Sunday (July 31), Malaysian Employers Federation president Datuk Syed Hussain Syed Husman expressed hopes that there will be no further delay in procuring labour resources which has been agreed by Malaysia and the respective source countries.
National Association of Private Employment Agencies (Papsma) secretary-general Sukumaran Nair also said his side hopes the government will implement a form of closer understanding or friendship with source countries with a protocol to bring in the workers involved so that it is properly coordinated. – The Vibes, August 2, 2022
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