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| Republished from New Straits Times, Sep 24, 2019, with the author’s permission. Read the original here. |
DURIANS are big businesses that run into billions of ringgit these days.
With the incessant demand from mostly affluent consumers for premium quality durians like Musang King, Black Thorn and Trakka, cultivation of the thorny fruits in Malaysia has taken on a serious approach.
Thanks to the growing fascination for premium flavoured durians, Pahang has emerged as the country’s premium durian axis.
Malaysia produces 300,000 tonnes of durians annually. Almost a quarter are premium durians and strong demand stems from their thick flesh, taste, aroma and colour.
Some 22,000 tonnes of premium durians are exported annually to major markets like Singapore and China. China, in particular, has now emerged as the “go-to” market because of its big population base and their deep pockets.
With China now allowing the entry of whole durians, it’s likely to open the floodgates.
As Musang King is known to retail for as high as RM110 per kg during off-peak seasons, premium durians are now seen as the new source of agricultural wealth. That probably explains the mushrooming of various durian investment schemes.
One, for instance, invites a minimum investment of RM10,000 where a guaranteed return of RM7,700 annually begins from the fifth year.
Durian orchards have also become a major tourist draw.
Overseas tourists have jumped on the durian trail to savour the “real creamy thing”.
That’s one side of the story. Cultivation is another. It’s an all-year-round toil before you can reap your rewards.
Interestingly, not everyone is on the same page. Strangely, they’re in places where they should know best.
Take the case of Datuk Seri Foo Sae Heng, who has 80 ha of durians in Bentong. As local labour was hard to come by, he decided to get foreigners.
After a survey by the Agriculture Department at his estate, his officer was asked to go to the state-level office in Kuantan to get the approval. With the approval, Foo’s company submitted an application for six foreign labourers.
The company then hit a snag as it was told that 80 ha of durians only needed another pair of hands since it already has a manager and two labourers!
Why? Durians are seasonal, the department said! It didn’t even take into account fertilising, weeding and other agronomic practices?
A bewildered Foo asked how that calculation come about. The answer was — “it’s in the system”. But he was “advised” that the system could be circumvented if the application stated that he also intended to rear chickens and grow vegetables!
Foo complied as his aim was to recruit labour, never mind the extra hours for poultry and greens. After two weeks, Foo’s application was approved and he was told to go to the Home Ministry in Putrajaya.
It wasn’t a bed of roses there as anyone who wanted a foreign worker in Peninsular Malaysia was there in the noisy hall.
When his turn came after two hours, it was another round of grilling as to why he needed foreigners for his durian orchard.
Satisfied with his answers, Foo was given a signed letter and told to go to another office of the same ministry but in a different building for another interview.
After a long wait of two hours or so, he was told to return the next day as his application didn’t come with a bank draft for levy payment. No one told him this before.
Foo was back again the next day with the relevant documentation and fees. After another long wait and interview, he was told to submit details online with one of the local recruitment agencies.
A Visa with Reference (VDR) approval must be obtained from the Immigration Department before employers can get foreign workers.
Applications must include an approval letter from the Home Ministry on quota approval, receipt of levy payment, filling up of IM.12 and IM.38 forms, security bond, copies of foreign workers’ passports, latest photos, medical certificates and insurance.
Foo complied with all these requirements, including paying 50 per cent of the RM7,000 fee for each worker for medical check-ups and flight tickets.
But even after doing all this, Foo was told that his application was rejected because of irregularities over the workers’ backgrounds.
Foo appealed and was told to wait another month after his submission. He was to call a telephone number and Foo called that number a dozen times but no one was there to even say “hello”. He decided to go to Putrajaya and another round of queue numbers and waiting for more than two hours ensued before he was told to come back two weeks later.
After a fortnight, the same process was repeated — ticket queue and anticipation. In the end, the person manning the counter just said his appeal was rejected and that was that. That meant Foo had to start all over again and spend thousands of ringgit more to go through the same process.
But will he succeed or face more hurdles this time around?
After listening to Foo’s miserable tale, I remember two stalwarts in the business community, Tan Sri Ter Leong Yap and Tan Sri Lim Kuang Sia. They both spoke on the need for greater transparency in manpower recruitment at a recent gathering attended by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail in Shah Alam.
The question now is how do we get government servants to see the bigger picture of “shared prosperity” espoused by the current administration?
Two durian seasons have come and gone. Do we want to kill the trees that lay the golden durians?
- Datuk Yong Soo Heong is a former chief executive officer and editor-in-chief of Bernama. Read more about him here.
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