Mapa urged to create housing fund for estate workers

Estate workers may be able to own houses when they retire under the Estate Workers Housing Aid Fund proposed by the government to the Malaysian Agricultural Producers Association (Mapa), said Human Resources Minister Dr S Subramaniam.

He said the scheme similar to that of Felda settlers, would allow the employers to contribute to the fund where their workers would be able to withdraw the money when they meet certain requirements.

"I have proposed this to Mapa and it is up to them now," Subramaniam, who is also the MP for Segamat told reporters after handing out Deepavali hampers to the poor in his constituency last night.

The minister said he had proposed the fund to plantation giant, Sime Darby during his visit to several estates in Bagan Pinang, Negeri Sembilan a few days ago.

He said the workers could use the fund to pay deposits for their houses provided they fulfilled certain conditions such as having served 10 years or longer in the estates or with the plantation companies.

Transportation woes

Subramaniam also requested Mapa to address the transportation woes faced by secondary school-going children in estates by funding and maintaining buses in their estates.

He said many parents in estates were unable to send their children to secondary schools in nearby towns due to the high transportation costs.

"We do not want workers leaving their estates just because there is no transportation to ferry their children to schools," he said.

He said it was no so much of a problem for primary school-going children as Tamil schools were often located within the estates.

Subramaniam also said several plantation companies like Sime Darby have agreed to provide additional land for their workers to venture into farming or cattle rearing under the Green Book (Buku Hijau) programme.

"Through this effort, the workers will be able to supplement their income or grow their own vegetables for consumption," he said.

The minister said the labour department has been monitoring the wage structure of estate workers to ensure no workers were underpaid by their employers.