Dispute Highlights Labour Shortage

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31841, 20 November 1968, Page 12

Dispute Highlights Labour Shortage

(N Z P A .-Reuter) KOTA KINABALU (Sabah)The quarrel between Malaysia and the Philippines over Sabah threatens to worsen the Borneo territory’s long-standing labour shortage. Lack of workers to exploit the tropical forestry and mineral resources has been a problem for the past century. While Malaysia has tried to encourage people to move to the territory from West Malaysia in recent years, Sabah has still had to rely greatly on eager workers from nearby Indonesia and the Southern Philippines. Rubber plantations particularly are faced with shortage of workers. Sabah is a tropical land of 29,388 square miles—just about the size of Scotland—but it has only about 600,000 inhabitants and with large numbers of children and inactive people, the total registered work force is only about 40,000. Chronic Problem Labour shortage has been a chronic problem since the North Borneo area became a British protectorate in 1888. The British had to export labour from India. Indonesia, the Philippines. Hong Kong, and even Japan, offering free cash grants, land.

and other forms of encouragement, including marriage allowances for new immigrants. Today the Sabah Government is concentrating on re-! cruiting West Malaysian workers. But observers believe this source of supply alone cannot fill the labour gap. In 1966 the Central Government Migration Fund Board drew up plans for the movement of 1000 labourers from West Malaysia to Sabah to year for 10 years. So far 3700 West Malaysian workers and their dependents! have arrived to work in the State lured by inducements, including the promise of land for those who want to settle down after completion of their two-year employment contract. Although the entry of labour from outside Malaysia is now discouraged, Filipino and Indonesian workers with proper documents are still admitted and, in fact, contribute substantially to the state’s labour force. There are now about 13.000 Filipino (25,000 including families) and 20,000 Indonesian (38.000 including families) workers in Sabah. Not Stable While labourers from Indonesia and the Philippines form the major labour strength in plantation estates and timber industry, they are by no means a stable source of supply. During Indonesia's confrontation with Malaysia the in-

flow of Indonesian workers was stopped. Now the arrival of Filipino workers is slowing down because of deteriorating relations between Malaysia and the Philippines. Worse still, there is a tendency among Filipino labourers to leave for home after one or two years in Sabah. Among the fields hardest hit by the labour shortage are the rubber, fishing and building construction industries. In 1966 rubber exports fell by seven per cent to 23,741 tons simply because there 'were not enough tappers. Apparently aware that plans to “Malaysianise” Sabah's work force are not progressing as well as expected, Kuala Lumpur has agreed to relax its policies to allow the controlled entry of skilled and semi-skilled workers, particularly from Hong Kong or Taiwan. But this is only if workers cannot be found within Malaysia after two weeks of an advertisement being published in newspapers. One of the reasons why it (is difficult to induce immi- . grants is the high cost of (living in Sabah. Manufactur- . ed goods have to be brought in by ships. Living costs are about 40 per cent higher than in West Malaysia. There are also fewer educational facilities in this stale where more than 80 per cent of the population is under 18 years old.