Plantation owners told to offer better pay
the nst online: 2009/07/20
PENAMPANG: Plantation owners must offer better homes and higher salaries if they want Malaysians to work for them.
The Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry is talking to estate bosses about upgrading the facilities to make plantation work more attractive to Malaysians and reduce the dependence on foreign labour.
About half-a-million workers are employed in the plantation sector.
Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said some estate owners had already improved their benefits to attract more Malaysians.
Asked if poor pay and housing were what made the plantation sector unattractive to locals, he said: "This is something we are looking at. It's a combination of many reasons."
He was speaking to reporters after opening a seminar on career opportunities in the plantation and commodity sectors at the Kadazandusun Cultural Association hall yesterday.
The ministry is also looking at training Malaysians to fill jobs in factories and other downstream activities from oil palm, rubber and tree planting.
"Plantations are not just about planting and harvesting. There are many downstream activities and this is what we need to tell people looking for jobs.
"There are openings in the small- and medium-scale industry sector that Malaysians can explore."
The plantation sector has changed from a producer of raw material to an exporter of finished high-value-added products worth RM70 billion annually to more than a hundred nations, said a banner put up at the hall.
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