Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd representatives will meet 36 ex-workers of Ladang Kamiri and Changkat Salak in Sungai Siput, Perak, next week to resume discussions on alternative housing and
compensation.

This is in response to a memorandum submitted on Sept 29 to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi by the ex-workers joint committee who appealed for his intervention to break the two-year impasse.

Talks came to a standstill early last year after both parties refused to budge on the claims.

Last Tuesday, the Ipoh High Court postponed to Dec 3 a hearing of an eviction notice involving the group of ex-workers.

Guthrie General Manager Plantation Operations Zakaria Ramli said he planned to personally meet the ex-workers from both the estates next week.

Explain situation

"I have yet to meet any of them as head of the task force formed to handle such issues. Hopefully, we can agree on some issues, if not all," he told malaysiakini when met in Kuala Lumpur recently.

"We want to explain the situation to our people personally and maintain an open line of communication."

He, however, declined to comment if it was an attempt to reach an out-of-court settlement.

On the 28-page memorandum received by an assistant of Abdullah's aide, Dr Vincent Lim, Zakaria said the prime minister's office has yet to contact Guthrie over the issue.

Contacted yesterday, Lim's special assistant Chong Sin Woon, who had received the memorandum from the ex-workers committee last month, said a letter was sent yesterday morning to Guthrie.

"We have requested more information from them. Once we have the background, we will know what the full story is and then (Lim) will decide the next course of action," he said.

In 1999, Guthrie converted the crop in Ladang Kamiri from rubber to oil palm, resulting in many job terminations.

The ex-workers now want the company to cough up RM1,000 for each year of service and a five-acre plot of land in the existing area.

Zakaria said that 24 ex-workers and 11 non-workers had refused to vacate the estate quarters unless th above demands are met.
"This is something we need to discuss further."

He said that in Changkat Salak, seven ex-workers and two non-workers have refused to vacate their houses for the same reasons.

Copy of letter

Sungai Siput PSM co-ordinator M Sukumaran, whose parents are part of the ex-workers committee, confirmed that Chong had called him yesterday asking for their correspondence address.

"He wanted to forward us a copy of the letter they are sending to Guthrie. We don't know what the contents are but it's good that they are keeping us informed," he said when contacted yesterday.

The ex-workers, he said, are having a district-level fund-raising dinner tonight in Ladang Kamiri to raise money for legal fees and related expenses.

"We are expecting about 300 people at the gathering. There will be speeches and a briefing on the latest development regarding the outstanding issues with Guthrie and the visit to Pak Lah's office."

Social activist Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj who has been assisting the ex-workers committee said Guthrie had asked him for a copy of the memorandum.

"On Thursday, someone from the company called me asking for a copy of the memorandum and that where things are now," he said yesterday.

"However, I have not been told of any meeting between Guthrie and the ex-workers next week."

Jeyakumar is pro tem vice-president of Parti Sosialis Malaysia and the Sungai Siput branch chairperson. Repeated attempts to register itself as a political party has proven futile.