LIGS said this in a statement today following an articled published in Borneo Today on Saturday which reported the outcome of discussions that Warisan leaders, Junz Wong and Peter Anthony, had with about 300 rubber smallholders at Dewan Lamanda, Kampung Sinulihan, Sook on Sept 24.
“The government has assisted 21,594 smallholders in planting 66,060 hectares involving an allocation of RM924,840.00 to eradicate poverty and to provide a sustainable source of income since 2010.
“These planted areas will come to maturity from year 2018 in phases. All these planting are implemented, monitored and managed till maturity by LIGS before handing back to the smallholders,” the statement said, in dismissing any insinuation by Warisan that LIGS did not help.
According to LIGS, such processeds are then continued at the trees’ maturity stage, where the smallholders are provided with cups, hangers, spouts, tapping knives and training free of charge.
LIGS also denied that it was using middle men in Singapore to export rubber.
“All major tyre manufacturers have procurement offices in Singapore which source natural rubber from Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia for their manufacturing factories worldwide.
“One of LIGS’s major buyer is Bridgestone Tyres which sources rubber for their manufacturing plants in Mexico, Brazil and South Africa,” LIGS said, adding that as a commodity, rubber is sold according to the international prices fixed by the Malaysian Rubber Exchange.
Warisan had released a statement on Saturday of the meeting with the smallholders and the measures that the party hopes to take should it take over the state government.
Party vice-presidents, Wong and Anthony, said they had addressed the concerns of the smallholders and come up with a 8-point strategy to revamp LIGS.
Among the points are to do away with middlemen for both export and in terms of collecting the rubber produced, to abolish the 10% export tax as Sabah is said to be the only state that imposes it, and also to abolish the regressive policy that only allows plantations with at least 10,000 acres to set up factories.
LIGS explained that the regulation on the minimum plantation size for factories was not to stop smallholders but to ensure that such factories have sufficient raw material to operate.
“Private investors who want to put up factories must have 10,000 hectares of rubber plantation. This is to ensure there is sufficient raw materials for their own factories.
“For smallholders, LIGS already has three factories to process and market all smallholders’ rubber. These factories are sufficient to cater to the processing needs of smallholders.
“Warisan Sabah’s proposal to have private sector factories will cause a shortage of raw materials,” LIGS said, adding that its factories are not profit oriented and are set-up to serve the smallholders.
As for the 10% tax, LIGS explained that it is a safeguard to ensure that raw rubber from Sabah is not sent to Peninsular Malaysia for processing.
“Smallholders do not pay the tax but it is paid by exporters when the raw rubber is taken out of the state.
“It is the state policy to ensure primary industries are promoted in the state and to provide employment to Sabahans,” LIGS said.
The statement added that rubber prices in Sabah and Peninsula Malaysia are not the same due to logistic reasons.