As the second largest producer of palm oil in the world, Malaysia’s demand for workforce in the oil palm industry is accelerating (Mccarthy & Cramb, 2009; Cramb & Curry, 2012). Due to the lack of interest from Malaysian worker, in 2004, Malaysia depends on approximately 3 million of migrant labour, either legal or illegal, to work in palm oil estate, scattered in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak (Mccarthy & Cramb, 2009. According to (Murphy, 2014), scarce labour issue in palm oil industry in Malaysia need urgent attention due to several undisputable facts; (i) labour force is crucial in oil palm industry since it determine the optimal yield of palm fruits. Skill worker is needed because if the fruit is harvested a little too early or a little too late, it will give huge impact towards the oil yield, (ii) government restriction on the migrant labour visa (iii) expansion of oil palm plantation in Indonesia might attract Indonesian worker to work in their own country.
Malaysia vulnerable dependency on migrant labour, particularly from Indonesia, is unintended, given that this phenomenon significantly contribute to the negative effect towards Malaysian current and future economy and social. It is undeniable that the presence of Indonesian workers in Malaysia are helpful in ensuring the success of oil palm industry in Malaysia, but they are also contributing to several other problems, such as crimes and diseases, cash outflows to Indonesia as well as the reduction of employment opportunities for Malaysian. While Malaysian worker are more interested to work in manfacturing industry, poor migrant labor from Indonesia (Pye, Daud, & Harmono, 2012) are readily discipline, willing to work at the cheap pay (when compared to the payment that they received if they work in Indonesia) and are motivated to change the fate of the family upon their arrival to Malaysia.
Our study empirically examines on this issue. Firstly, we intend to identify the interest of the second generation of The Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) to work in the oil palm industry. Secondly, we intend to investigate what factors that influence the second generation of FELDA to work in oil palm industry. Using second-generation of FELDA in the state of Perak as our respondent, we believe that our study will be of use to the policymakers in reducing the dependency on the migrant labour, especially in oil palm industry that will have prolong effect to the Malaysian taskforce and economy in the next future.