SIPITANG – Some 600 laid-off employees of the bankrupt Sabah Forest Industries (SFI) will have to vacate their quarters at the former paper mill and estate at the end of October following the state’s move to take back the land.
They have been living there after SFI went into receivership in 2017 under terms of their retrenchment. Some of them have lived there even longer, for more than 30 years when the paper mill was in its heyday.
The terms of the retrenchment include allowing workers to reside at the quarters while the state government decides on SFI’s future, giving the workers hope that they might get their jobs back.
On September 5 this year, however, the Sabah Land and Survey Department issued a reclamation notice for the 46.033ha state which includes SFI workers’ quarters.
The notice follows the gazettement of the land for the “Sustainable Forest Timber Utilisation, Processing, Management, Conservation, Research and Development Scheme” on July 28 this year. It is not known what this means for the paper mill and forest estate on the site.
The fate and welfare of the SFI workers are now in the lurch, and there is still no solution for their employment, a former worker who only wanted to be known as Jeffrey, told The Vibes.
“We are in the dark while a lot of things are hearsay. Only Grant Thornton and the state government know what they are planning for SFI.
“Just last week, we were told to start paying for the electricity and water supply. It used to be paid for by the company.
But clearly, there is nothing on an exit plan for the workers as well as protection of our welfare,” Jeffrey said.
Grant Thornton is the firm acting as SFI’s receiver. The paper mill and estate went into receivership in 2017, and in 2021 was ordered to wind up over a RM2.6 million debt.
A state-led consortium to revive SFI was announced in the Sabah legislative assembly earlier this year. Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor said the consortium would be made up of three entities, namely Yayasan Sabah and two other private companies.
Despite this announcement, there have been no developments on the fate of the laid-off workers or if they will be given jobs at the revived SFI.
Jeffrey said the workers have engaged several state leaders including Hajiji, the state secretary, and the local Sindumin assemblyman Datuk Yusof Yaacob, but to no avail.
“Last Wednesday, we wrote another letter to the chief minister and thereafter met Yusof over this matter.
But we were made to understand that things will only get worse for all of us.
It is quite clear that a solution has been found for SFI, but not for the welfare of the workers. What will happen to us?” he asked.
In the state-led consortium, the state is said to have 15% equity in SFI, compared to 1.8% previously.
The names of the two companies involved have not been announced but according to SFI, one of them is Pelangi Prestasi Sdn Bhd and the other is said to be a steel company.
However, a source told The Vibes that SFI’s revival by the consortium does not include details on whether the previously laid-off workers would be rehired.
It now appears that the eviction notice would mean that the retrenched workers will not be part of the consortium’s plan, the source added.
“Clearly, there is no exit strategy for the workers and no social obligation as to our welfare by the state government. The priorities of the companies involved are more important than the workers’,” the source said.
Another SFI worker who wanted to be known as Ronnie said the paper mill had benefited Sipitang’s local economy.
Some 1,600 locals were employed during SFI’s height in the 1980s, whether as workers or third-party contractors. Around RM4 million a month was generated and much of the money went back to the local economy, Ronnie said.
Sipitang’s economy has been badly affected since SFI’s closure in 2017, and although the Sabah Ammonia Urea Plant owned by Petronas in the same area provided jobs, the economic spillover is not as great as SFI’s as fewer people are employed, he added.
Ronnie also said some of the ex-workers have left for jobs outside Sipitang but their families still stay at the SFI quarters.
Their children even go to the primary and secondary school here, which might have to close down if the students whose parents live at the SFI quarters are evicted, he added. – The Vibes, September 24, 2022
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