Sarawak in talks with HR ministry on recruitment of foreign workers BorneoPost Online | Borneo , Malaysia, Sarawak Daily News » Sabah - New 2 Borneo |
- Sarawak in talks with HR ministry on recruitment of foreign workers
- See calls for public forums on Malaysia Agreement
- Villagers meet Manyin over proposal for road upgrade
- Len: Firm has not met all terms and conditions to quarry Mount Serumbu
- ‘Lower crime index this year’ — Adenan
- 2.1mln ha of forests for Heart of Borneo
| Sarawak in talks with HR ministry on recruitment of foreign workers Posted: 26 Nov 2013 09:27 PM PST KUCHING: The Sarawak government is in discussions with the federal Ministry of Human Resources on how the state can obtain supply of workers from an alternative source, Bangladesh, to sustain the oil palm industry. State Land Development Minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing said Sarawak had to continue relying on foreign workers but recruitment from its traditional source, Indonesia, was getting more difficult due to the industry's robust development in the republic. "The plantation sector is still faced with tight labour supply and because of competition from higher-paying sectors, the locals tend to shun plantation jobs," he said in his winding-up speech for his ministry at the state assembly sitting, here, today. Masing said the state government was seriously addressing the problem but there were still legal and technical issues that needed to be resolved before these workers could be recruited under the government to government (G to G) arrangement. "Even though trial recruitment has started in the peninsula, the state government wants to be certain that the recruitment process is smooth and free from any hindrances before it formally adopts the G to G arrangement and eventually allows the entry of these workers." On steps being taken by Felda Global Ventures Plantations (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (Felda) to attract more local workers, Masing said, currently 70 per cent of its workers in the state were foreigners. Felda was going all out to attract more locals to work in the estates by enhancing the potential for locals to increase their income based on family (husband and wife) with a monthly income of RM1,000 per person, he said. Masing said Felda, which owns and manages 7,680 hectares of oil palm in five project areas at Sempadi, Lundu, had set a yield target of 21.04 tonnes of fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) per hectare for this year from 20.77 tonnes per hectare the previous year. On the importance of the industry, he said, an estimated RM17.5 billion was injected into the state's economy for the development of 1.19 million hectares of oil palm, with a further RM4.42 billion being invested in the 63 palm oil mills and six refineries currently in operation. He said that up to June 30 this year, the industry in Sarawak had generated export revenue totalling RM40.1 billion since 2007 and collected RM2.6 billion from palm oil sales tax since 2002. -Bernama  To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names.  |
| See calls for public forums on Malaysia Agreement Posted: 26 Nov 2013 03:26 PM PST KUCHING: State PKR secretary general See Chee How calls on the state government to organise a series of public forums throughout the state to gather the opinions of the public with regards to the Malaysia Agreement. "It will be useful for the general public to be enlightened on this agreement," See told The Borneo Post. He thanked Parti Rakyat Sarawak president Tan Sri Dr James Masing who is Land Development Minister "for reminding" the federal government of the Malaysia Agreement. "The important message that he (Masing) wants to convey is the honouring of the agreement, not so much whether he is "There is really no need to mince with our words because, whether it is to 'remind' or to call for a "review", what we are asking for is that the parties (Semenanjung Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah) to return to the Malaysian Agreement and honour the terms and obligations of the agreement. We are actually demanding our interests and rights under the agreement, and that the federal government to fulfil their obligations," said the Padungan assemblyman." See said Masing should not be worried that a review might result in unfavourable condition for Sarawak and the concern or fear of Masing was "baseless and unfounded". "The fact that we have, for the first time, had a state celebration on July 22 this year, to commemorate our actual Independence Day on July 22, 1963, has shown the state's resolve to pursue our claims for the state's full rights and privileges in Malaysia, be it a reminder or seeking a review of the Malaysia Agreement which is one of the most crucial agreement that enumerated the rights, privileges and obligations of all parties to the formation of Malaysia in 1963," said See. See has said this in response to Masing's for the terms and conditions in the Malaysia Agreement to be honoured and Sarawak and Sabah should be equal entities as Peninsular Malaysia and not the 12th and 13th states of the federation. To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names. |
| Villagers meet Manyin over proposal for road upgrade Posted: 26 Nov 2013 03:25 PM PST KUCHING: Villagers braved an eight-hour journey from Long Jeeh in remote upper Baram to Miri before taking a flight to Kuching; such was their determination to have a proper road built which would change their socio-economic status for the better. Yesterday, TK Apoi Ukang and village representatives presented a working paper to Minister of Infrastructure Development and Communications Dato Sri Michael Manyin Jawong at his office in the State Legislative Assembly building to upgrade the 52km timber track currently connecting their village to a major logging road. Long Jeeh has 980 residents and 88 doors (family units). The villagers hope that the present track can be upgraded to a gravel or tar-sealed road. The minister said that he would look into their request. Also present to witness the handover was Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau, who made the arrangements for the villagers to meet Manyin face to face. Ngau told reporters later that the road, which is one of the longest feeder roads in the area, had problems in the past such as soil erosion. JKKK representative in charge of development Raymond Appoi Balan said that the present track is their main route to bring their agricultural products to market in town, and the upgrade, if approved, will pave the way for villagers to expand into commercial crops like rubber and oil palm. "We hope that the minister will consider and approve our requests," he said. Responding to a question, he said the villagers first submitted their proposal three years ago through their YB (elected representative) and the relevant ministry but it had not yet materialised. However, the villagers felt so strongly about the importance of the road for their community that they took the initiative to come to Kuching to follow up on their earlier request. "Despite the hardship, trouble and difficult life these people have been going through all this while, their commitment and support to BN government is still very strong. "They are very committed and 'tidak pandai putus asa' (did not give up) all these years," said Ngau, reiterating that only the BN government could bring the development that the villagers needed. The last general election saw two sons of Long Jeeh — BN-SPDP's Anyi Ngau and PKR's Roland Engan battling it out in a three-cornered fight with independent Patrick Sibat to become Baram MP. Anyi won with a slim majority of 194 votes over Roland while Patrick failed to hold on to his deposit. To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names. |
| Len: Firm has not met all terms and conditions to quarry Mount Serumbu Posted: 26 Nov 2013 03:23 PM PST KUCHING: The company licensed to quarry the historical Mount Serumbu in Bau cannot do anything on the ground because it has not met the terms and conditions of the approval. Assistant Minister of Environment Datu Len Talif Salleh said the state government was now looking at ways it could stop the company from operating considering that it had not met the terms and conditions. "We are looking at all the possibilities to mitigate the problem but we don't want to jump the gun. We are looking into all the issues from both sides," he said when met at State Legislative Assembly here yesterday. Len, who is also Belawai assemblyman, said the licence was issued to the company in 1997 but since then it had not done much. "No EIA report was presented and consequently no EIA report was approved for this purpose (quarrying). "So if they want to operate now, they have to comply with all the terms and conditions." Controller of the state Natural Resource and Environment Board (NREB) Peter Sawal also confirmed on Monday that the company had not submitted an environmental impact report (EIA) for approval. A peaceful demonstration was held by some 50 people, including Chinese, Malay and Bidayuh community leaders, near Mount Serumbu on Sunday. The residents from 17 villages in the vicinity of Mount Serumbu want the government to revoke the licence of the quarry company claiming that the area was their ancestral land. Their advisor, Stephen Sinyum Mitit, said the area around the mountain had been cultivated by their forefathers well before the Brooke era and it was steeped in history and had vast tourism potential. Among others, the first White Rajah James Brooke built a cottage there and the mountain also boasts world renowned British scientist Alfred Wallace's Trail. To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names. |
| ‘Lower crime index this year’ — Adenan Posted: 26 Nov 2013 03:14 PM PST THE state's crime index has decreased by 11.36 per cent this year. As at October 31, Sarawak registered a total of 7,555 cases compared to the corresponding period last year, showing a decrease of 970 cases. According to Special Functions Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Adenan Satem, the downtrend was possibly due to the nationwide 'Ops Cantas Khas' as well as the introduction of the Prevention of Crime Act (PCA) 2013 that deterred crime in the state. "On August 17 this year, the Sarawak police launched 'Ops Cantas' throughout the state which resulted in 46,748 number of searches of which 340 people were arrested for various offences," he said in his winding-up speech yesterday. On the issue of drug abuse and trafficking in Limbang and Lawas, police statistics from January to October 31 this year recorded 68 drug-related cases in Limbang as compared to 96 cases reported last year while in Lawas, 108 cases were reported with 108 arrests and seizure of 8.62g syabu this year. "The records of arrest under Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, Poisons Act 1952 and Drug Dependant Act (Treatment & Rehabilitation) 1983 between January and October 31, 2013 saw a 35 per cent increase from the total of 4,085 arrests compared to 3,035 arrests in the same period in 2012." Adenan also touched on the issue of cable theft and vandalism in Muara Tabuan Light Industrial Estate which was highlighted by Violet Yong (DAP-Pending) when tabling participating in the Budget 2014 last week. "The frequency of vandalism in Muara Tabuan Light Industrial Park has dropped after new efforts such as installing "Additional measures are being planned such as real-time CCTV directional to the cabinet and the proposed alarm system directly to the relevant authorities (Police Command and Control Centre) for hot spot areas," he said. He also said that service providers including Telekom Malaysia (TM) and Sacofa were seriously looking into underground cabling solution not only in new greenfield development areas such as Samalaju and Tanjung Manis but also brownfield areas. "The implementation of this proposal needs to be studied in depth as it has cost implication to the service providers being a business entity and we do not want further cost to be transferred to end users." Meanwhile, on the Second Hand Dealers Act, Adenan said the police and relevant state agencies were now working on the process and other administrative details for the implementation of the provisions of the Act in Sarawak. "This is because there are many issues that need to be resolved including existing location, zoning and the siting of second hand dealers and recycling companies and to ensure that all operators are properly licensed and meet the requirement of the Land Code and Council by Laws," he said. To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names. |
| 2.1mln ha of forests for Heart of Borneo Posted: 26 Nov 2013 03:13 PM PST THE government has set aside about 2.1 million ha of forests that will enable the state to contribute to the Heart of Borneo's long-term objectives under the Bali Declaration. Special Functions Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem said these objectives aim to promote the people's welfare and cooperation to ensure effective management of forest resources and the conservation of a network of protected areas, productive forests and other sustainable land use. "For Sarawak, the Heart of Borneo is not a new initiative but an extension of the existing government-driven, bilateral and multilateral collaborations which has been implemented by the state government. "In other words, this initiative is a 're-branding' of the existing conservation efforts that have been undertaken so far," he said during his winding up speech at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) yesterday Adenan pointed out that the state has been working with Indonesia on two important trans-boundary biodiversity conservation projects funded by the International "The implementation of the Heart of Borneo initiative in Sarawak is in tandem with the state's overall development agenda and respective legal and institutional frameworks." He said the state government has endorsed the Project Implementation Framework (PIF), which would focus on sustainable agriculture or land use, sustainable forest management, conservation of biological diversity, community based or rural poverty eradication programme, as well as eco-tourism based on culture, adventure and nature. "Therefore, the state government encourages all forest timber licensees within the Heart of Borneo areas to be certified under the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme or any other equivalent certification to ensure compliance with sustainable forest management practices," he said. The Heart of Borneo initiative, he said, could benefit the state by attracting more local and international collaboration, providing a platform to promote the state's efforts in conservation and sustainable forest management, encouraging stakeholder cooperation through information sharing and implementation of joint activities as well as enhancing capacity building through collaborations. He said the participation of local communities as co-partners in conservation management, initiated under ITTO-supported projects in Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary and Pulong Tau National Park, would be further promoted and strengthened. To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from BorneoPost Online | Borneo , Malaysia, Sarawak Daily News » Sarawak To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |