KUALA LUMPUR: Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin has urged industry players from the plantation sector to hire foreign labour from other countries instead of relying on labour from Indonesia and Bangladesh.
She said countries such as Pakistan, India and Afghanistan could be labour options that the plantation sector should explore in the near future.
“However, we need to facilitate them and brief them on the type of work available in Malaysia’s plantation sectors.
“If there is a positive interest, we can start hiring between 50 and 100 foreign workers at the initial stage to see if they are comfortable here,” she said during a session with delegates of the Malaysia International Agricommodity Expo and Summit (MIACES) 2022 today.
She noted that the industry players could then increase the number of foreign hires if the response is positive and not just stick to the traditional countries for bringing in foreign labour for their businesses.
About MIACES 2022, she lauded the event as a suitable platform to give a better perspective on Malaysia’s palm oil industry and to scrap the allegations of forced labour used in the plantation sector.
“I hope the industry players from all over the world can come together and support Malaysia’s palm oil industry as well as have a better perception of our plantation sector through this expo,” she said.-Bernama
