Tackle Forced Labour Now, ask PH for help if needed

 

Early march, I issued a congratulatory statement to Sime Darby Plantation Bhd (SDP), for establishing an Expert Stakeholder Human Rights Assessment Commission, which would oversee a comprehensive evaluation of the group’s labour practices across its Malaysian operations.

It is disappointing that Sime Darby’s proposed commission has since been dissolved (http://bitly.ws/fAjj).

The nation does not have the same luxury as we have already been downgraded to Tier 3 in this year's Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report (http://bitly.ws/fAjn).

In March, I urged the Ministry of Human Resources (MoHR) to establish a similar commission that would oversee the whole plantation industry in Malaysia.

I believed that it was not the job of a single company but all companies, and MoHR could have taken the lead in this and provided the leadership, guidance to address all these allegations of forced labour in the sector.

It was during my tenure that the Ministry aggressively pushed for zero tolerance to forced labour (http://bitly.ws/fAjr) and (http://bitly.ws/fAju).

If the ministry had taken heed of my advice in March, they would have been seen as being serious in eradicating all forms of forced labour in the country. This would have also brought about a certain discipline in the industry

We have lost 4 months in this matter and don't see why there needs to be any further delays. I call upon the Ministry to get the necessary approvals from the cabinet to form this commission.

They can take it a step further and make all findings public.

One of our main sources of income and employment is Palm Oil and we need to do what we can so that the embargo on buying our oil can be lifted.

The sheer lack of leadership shown by the Government of the day is totally unacceptable. We should not wait for things to get extremely bad before reacting.

How much worse does it need to get before the PN government takes action? All Ministries must play a part to address Malaysia’s downgrade to tier 3 watch list   .

Stop the lethargic approach in handling these matters as it is of grave importance to the nation, Government must show leadership immediately.

If they are unable to do this, PH leaders are always available to assist the government; they should not hesitate to ask us.

M. Kula Segaran, MP Ipoh Barat

17th July 2021