Work in plantation sectors, Sabah youths told

Plantation sector today is not the same as in the
past as planters are offering better wages, perks
and living conditions as well as other social
amenities, says Salleh Said Keruak.

KOTA BELUD: Local youths must give plantation and other agricultural jobs a chance as they are the mainstay of the Sabah economy and one that has about the most promising future at the moment.

Yayasan Kota Belud chairman Salleh Said Keruak indicated that local youths were not even considering these two sectors because they feared the hard work and perceived bad living conditions, thus forcing owners to opt for foreign labour.

But the plantation sector today is not the same as in the past as planters are offering better wages, perks and living conditions as well as other social amenities, said Salleh when met after the launching of the Kota Belud Education, Skills and Career exposition here.

“Plantation owners enjoying good receipts from high commodity prices and in turn they are offering better salaries to attract good local workers, while farming food crops can be turned into a lucrative venture with today’s modern technology,” he pointed out.

“As such, instead of staying away from such a wonderful opportunity, local youths should boldly enter the plantation sector as the opportunities and rewards are ample and great is the demand”.

Salleh said Sabah’s over dependence on foreign labour in the plantation sector was not to its advantage as engaging workers from its traditional source of Indonesia was becoming difficult given that Kalimantan was seeing more plantations being opened.

Salleh said many local youths who were once cadet planters had made good and many have been successfully employed by government agencies such as Sabah Land Development Board and the Sawit Kinabalu Group, apart from the private sector.

He also called on planters to engage local youths and to impress upon them that life is not hell in the plantations and that there are ample things to do once work in the field is over.

Offer better facilities

He also said there should be improved housing for the workers, good health facilities as well as schools so that the children of the workers could get their education close by.

Touching on farming, he said Sabah’s over-dependence on food imports was also not good as the repercussions would be severe should an international food crisis occur.

He said youths could venture into paddy cultivation, growing tropical fruits or even vegetables that could find a ready market in the state.

“I must admit that it is hard work, but a successful farmer can earn five to ten times more in the food production sector as compared to someone working in an office,” he added.

Salleh said that with thousands of vacancies in the plantation sector as well as the service industry, Sabah’s unemployment rate should be low and if at all, the unemployment rate was high, it was because job seekers were choosy.

Touching on the exposition which was organised jointly by Yayasan Kota Belud and the Distrct Office, Salleh said it was to give school leavers and job seekers a chance to meet face to face prospective employers as well as those involved in tertiary education.

Job interviews

More than a thousand youths, including those sitting for the fifth and sixth forms, school leavers and job seekers attended the one-day exposition.

At hand to advise those keen on pursuing further education were counsellors and advisors from 15 colleges and institutes of higher learning.

A dozen companies including three plantation giants, Sawit, Genting and Sabah Softwoods granted interviews to prospective workers.

The exposition was officially launched by Assistant Minister of Resource Development and Information Technology, Zainab Mohd Ayid, on behalf of deputy chief minister Yee Moh Chai.