The Climbing Years… Blue to Green
The climbing years - is not about climbing mountains but rather chronicles my time after leaving the ship years.
In 1998, i had left my shipping company with a very sour taste in my mouth about their lack of thought for us Malaysians, especially a certain Captain, in charge of crewing! although after years I still hold a little anger towards this guy, then, time passes and this sour taste is slowly forgotten. He is still around when I write this, still working, well maybe this is his passion, so be it.
When I left, I told my wife, I wanted to work in an industry where I did not have to drive in mad traffic, work with as few people as possible, and then I stumbled upon an advertisement to work for a plantation company as a Factory Engineer. I knew zilch about oil palm plantations other than they were all around me while I was growing up in the small town of Teluk Intan.
When signing off AMAN, I just remembered taking my CV and going to the company HR office in KL. Once submitting the CV was told that I could attend the interview immediately as they were conducting interviews at that time. Luckily I was at least properly attired! Nervous i was, considering I really knew nothing about this industry.
I was offered the post of Assistant Mill Manager a week after the interview!
From the blue to the green!
From 1998, till 2022, I am still here in the industry and have grown to love it and know its contribution both to the Malaysian Economy as well as supplying the cheapest oil / fat and plays a part in feeding the world.
All those out there, who do not understand this wonder oil, should realize this crop is truly a magic crop and is now its oil in all aspects of our daily lives. We CANNOT replace it. Politics and mindless protectionism paint or attempt to paint an image of a nasty destructor of the environment, but this is just politics. In the 25 years, I have never seen a single Orang Utan hurt nor an acre of rain tree fall. They were already fallen, by the timber logging industry and other man-made greed reasons like development. Oil palm comes after that, and at the very least they cover otherwise barren land. Yes, there is deforestation being done by oil palm companies and there are habitats destroyed, but this is a part of development. The soya bean and the beef industry is FAR worse than us, falling millions of acres in the Amazon and less press on them cos, it’s politics.
Enough of my view on economics again - forgive my digression from what this blog is about, but I have to put my words and my thoughts known.
There are tremendous changes brought about to communities around the world as a result of oil palm, the West is all talk, when they are the largest polluters and destroyed their own environments and pillaged the world as colonial powers, Now they are lecturing the third world countries how to manage their own economies and growths!
