
The oil palm industry is a major component of the agriculture sector and a major export revenue earner. The Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry today denies an American report claiming that the sector employed children. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, December 3, 2014.
There is no child or forced labour in Malaysia's palm oil sector, Putrajaya said, in response to a US Department of Labour list that cites the country's billion-ringgit industry for employing children.
The Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry said a six-month survey completed in June this year on 68 plantations and smallholdings in several states found that there was no forced or child labour in the sector.
The survey was conducted in Selangor, Perak, Johor, Pahang, Sabah and Sarawak and covered 1,632 workers.
"In the case of Sabah, the study shows children of foreign workers accompanying their parents to the work area due to lack of supervision at home and assisting in simple tasks such as loose fruit collection.