Zuraida slammed for saying locals shun plantation jobs

PETALING JAYA: Plantation industries and commodities minister Zuraida Kamaruddin has come under heavy flak for saying locals are not keen on working in plantations despite the “lucrative income” offered.

Kluang MP Wong Shu Qi described Zuraida’s statement as “unreasonable” and said Malaysians were known to be the biggest group among illegal workers in Australian farms although it involves dirty, difficult and dangerous jobs.

“Yet, the Malaysians are willing to do it there,” she said in a statement.

Therefore, she added, the problem wasn’t that Malaysians are picky.

“The problem is that the plantation sector in Malaysia is labour intensive but provides low returns,” she said.

Wong said it was well-known that palm oil is a very important commodity to the country.

“Hence, the government should find a solution to reduce the dependency on foreign workers, and this includes modernisation,” she said.

With this, she said locals can be offered higher pay for handling high-tech machines and equipment.

On Oct 16, Zuraida said locals were not keen to work in plantations despite being offered lucrative incomes of RM1,200 to RM2,000.

She said that there are insufficient workers for the harvesting period and that locals say it is a heavy and difficult task.

Two weeks ago, Zuraida also announced that the ministry had given the approval for 32,000 foreign plantation workers who have completed their Covid-19 vaccination. They will be entering Malaysia this month. — Free Malaysia Today