Pay us what’s due and we’ll move out, say former SFI workers

KOTA KINABALU: Former workers of the now-defunct Sabah Forest Industries Sdn Bhd (SFI) are willing to move out of their quarters in Sipitang if their salaries and compensations are paid.

Workers’ representative Jeffridin Baudi said SFI owes over a thousand workers five months’ salary plus compensation since they were laid off in May 2021, and they need the money to start over.

He said they had families to provide for, and the situation had left most of them in limbo.

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“There are daily logging operations… (on) this land and if there is logging and sale of acacia wood, why can’t we get our salaries?” he asked at a press conference on Friday (April 26).

The current activities at the site were being carried out by the government, he claimed.

He said the workers were unable to leave the quarters as they had nowhere to go, with no money to rent new accommodation or start over back in their respective villages.

“We have also been served with notices of eviction many times, but where are we to go without any money?” Jeffridin asked.

SFI ceased operations in 2016 and was officially wound up in November 2021.

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In September 2021, the Sabah government cancelled SFI’s timber licence and the state Land and Survey Department issued a reclamation notice for the estate in 2022.

In January last year, Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister Datuk Abidin Madingkir had urged the workers to move on and find alternative employment.

In November, he told the state assembly that all former SFI employees were allowed to stay in the living quarters for free until a consortium could revive the fortunes of the once-successful pulp and paper company.

He added that the former employees would be permitted to remain on the company’s premises in south-western Sipitang district while waiting for the consortium to take over downstream operations.

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“We will leave if we are paid. Give us a way to start over, don’t just leave us like this,” said Jeffridin.

It is estimated that 647 families were still putting up at the SFI workers’ quarters, despite electricity and water supply being cut about a year ago, he said.

These families depend on solar panels and generator sets for power supply and collect rainwater and river water, as well as purchase bottled water for their daily needs, he added.