KUALA LUMPUR: Plantation owners have been encouraged to provide retraining and skills improvement to local workers and practice good labour management to ensure a sound long-term work force.

Plantation Industries and Commodities (MPIC) Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin said a good labour force management policy will not only prevent foreign workers from absconding, but it will also enable employers to circumvent the risk of forced labour and human trafficking which can ultimately be disruptive to their export business.

"The MPIC takes cognisance of the concerns raised by the Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) in May this year that the Malaysian oil palm plantation sector could potentially be incurring losses of RM21 billion in 2021 and a further RM28 billion in 2022 if foreign workers are not brought into the country immediately," she said in a statement today.

The issue of the lack of foreign workers started following the closure of national borders due to the implementation of several stages of the Movement Control Order (MCO) when the Covid-19 pandemic peaked and worsened, affecting the harvesting process in farms across the country. 

"The ministry at the same time also welcomes the agreement made by the Republic of Indonesia over the decision to re-allow the entry of its workers into Malaysia, which has been in effect since Aug 1, 2022, after withdrawing the restrictions before that, which were made due to concerns over issues related to rights of its (Indonesian) workers," she added.

She said the ministry will not compromise on issues related to forced labour in the country and Malaysia will continue to comply with the guidelines set in the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

"In fact, MPIC will continue to support the National Action Plan on Forced Labour (NAPFL) which was developed in an effort to address and eradicate the issue of forced labour in the country."

She said that in order to simplify the process of hiring foreign workers, MPIC also acknowledged that the process must be complete and efficient.

"Hence, we are all looking forward to the coordination process to be gradually switched to a fully digitalised platform without any human interference possible."

Zuraida said the ministry was confident that the noble efforts being undertaken at this time can help mobilise the 'Global Movement to Champion the Goodness of Palm Oil' campaign which, among other things, aims to explore and penetrate new markets and increase our country's palm oil exports.