Palm oil and orangutans

AS you’re aware, there is a serious manpower situation that Malaysia is facing. Some are saying Malaysia is at breaking point. It’s feared that our country is missing a golden opportunity to capitalise on high palm oil prices and will suffer production losses because of the acute shortage of workers. What has been done? According to the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) report in 2015, up to 78% of the oil palm plantation workers are foreign workers, with most of them coming from Indonesia. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there was no new arrival of foreign workers beginning from March 2020, and Malaysia recently opened its international borders on April 1, 2022. Due to the shortage of workers in the oil palm plantation sector, expected revenue losses are around RM20bil. ALSO READ: More foreign labour soon This has led to the Malaysian Cabinet to agree to a special exemption for the intake of 32,000 foreign workers for the palm oil sector in April 2022. As mentioned much … [Read more...] about Resolving worker shortage woes

KUALA LUMPUR: Indonesian workers for the plantation and manufacturing industries will be arriving in Malaysia to overcome the manpower shortage in these two critical sectors as Malaysia steps up its production. Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri S. Saravanan said Malaysia began receiving the first few batches of Indonesian workers from May 22 for these two sectors. ALSO READ: Resolving worker shortage woes “We are expecting bigger numbers of Indonesian workers (17,987) in one to two months’ time for the plantation and manufacturing sectors,” he said. “As of June 17, 19,043 foreign workers have arrived in Malaysia since early this year. We are expecting bigger numbers to arrive within a few months’ time. The number that I have shared just now was for the earlier approval given by the Home Ministry,” he said in an exclusive interview. The labour shortage in the oil palm plantation industry is said to be at breaking point with fears that Malaysia is unable to capitalise on … [Read more...] about More foreign labour soon

KUALA LUMPUR: The accreditation of 25 companies to recruit workers from Bangladesh was done to avoid monopolistic practices as well as to safeguard the welfare and livelihood of the workers, says Datuk Seri M. Saravanan. The Human Resources Minister also refuted allegations pertaining to the involvement of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the selection of the recruitment companies, saying that the claim was false and unfounded. “My statement of meeting with Her Excellency and explaining the current affairs of the Bangladeshi foreign workers in our country has been taken out context. “My meeting with Her Excellency was actually to narrate the current situation of foreign workers and the initiatives taken by my ministry for better working conditions,” he said in a statement yesterday. In an effort to create better accessibility for potential workers and to ensure better governance of the recruitment process, the Human Resources Ministry had selected the 25 companies … [Read more...] about ‘Accreditation of recruitment agencies will safeguard workers’