KUCHING: The palm oil industry continues to be a strong revenue earner for the state and country and could be even more productive if the worker shortage is addressed quickly.
The Sarawak Oil Palm Plantation Owners Association (Soppoa) opined that the announcement of 32,000 foreign workers being approved entry into Malaysia from mid-October was timely.
“We welcome the announcement made as the palm oil industry in Sarawak has a very acute shortage of foreign workers which has adversely affected the industry since the lockdown began in March 2020.
“As the workers comprised Indonesians and Bangladeshis, we certainly hope that our applications for these foreign workers will also be in the approved list, though we can only get Indonesian workers as mandated by the Sarawak government for plantation industry here.
“Nonetheless, we have appealed to Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg to grant approval for Bangladeshi workers for the plantation industry here as they are capable of working in oil palm plantations as proven in other parts of Malaysia.
“If approved for Sarawak, the Bangladeshi workers will certainly ease the acute shortage in our estates spread across the state. Currently, not only is the palm oil industry short of Indonesian workers, other sectors like construction industry, manufacturing industries, oil and gas industry, logistic and services industries are also very much dependent on them,” said Soppoa chief executive officer Felix Moh.
He added that as per requested, they had also set up necessary quarantine centres in the state to prepare for the entry of new foreign workers.
“We are very hopeful that the Sarawak government will also grant approval for entry of foreign workers for the palm oil industry here.”
