30 May 2019 (The Edge Markets MY) KUALA LUMPUR : The total cost of handling and processing involved in the ongoing regularisation of plantation workers and their dependants in Sabah will be an estimated RM808 million, according to the Malaysian Estate Owners Association (MEOA).

In a statement yesterday, MEOA president Jeffery Ong said the RM808 million was a figure close to the total Sabah crude palm oil (CPO) state sales tax paid by the industry in 2018.

According to MEOA, the regularisation programme cost per Indonesian in Sabah is RM2,765 per worker; RM1,365 per spouse and RM1,065 per child.

MEOA said the regularisation cost will translate to an added cost to the industry, notwithstanding if the cost will be incurred by the grower-owners and/or the workers paying in full, subsidised or loaned from the owners.

The association said the growers may also end up losing more workers if they decide to return to their country.

“With the anticipated peak cropping end of this year, it will be a lose-loser situation for all the growers and the State.

“Failure to comply with the regularisation programme with also deem that the involved growers will fail in their Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MPSO) certification – in which the government remains positive on the target to ensure nationwide MPSO certification by year-end,” it said.

Ong said as the regularisation programme is a one-off fresh initiative by the government, the State can also explore the option to carry out this regularisation exercise under the ambit of its relevant State agencies, thus potentially able to offer the process at a lower and reasonable rates.

“But more importantly, it helps to fulfil the objective of the programme that is to derive accurate information on the foreign workers and their dependants,” he said.