Glove makers must give back to poor rubber tappers

By ZAIDI ISHAM ISMAIL

During its heyday, Halim Abbas, 71, used to wake up as early as 5am to tap rubber.

By 7am, the chore is over and he would collect the cup lump rubber to be sold to Risda (Rubber Industry and Smallholders Development Authority) which is then processed into sheet rubber.

His income wasn't much as it was subject to prevailing rubber prices in the international markets such as at the Malaysian Rubber Exchanfe or the Tokyo Commodity Exchange.

On a good day, when tyre demand surges in China, Halim can make between RM2,000 and RM3,000 a month.

But on any given day, rubber prices such as SMR 20 remain subdued and is hardly as exciting as oil palm.

Rubber tapping is backbreaking work and it is the main income of some 600,000 rubber smallholders in Malaysia and another estimated 3 or 4 million rubber tappers in Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Rubber smallholders underwent a long excruciating journey ever since the British planted the first hevea brasiliensis in Malaya over a 100 hundred years ago.

Over the decades, rubber by itself is of little value but once value-added to become rubber gloves, condoms, tyres and catheters, the industry is transformed into a multi billion ringgit sector.

The downstream rubber industry has spawned multi millionaires and even billionaires spurred by COVID-19.

Hartalega and Supermax and previously Top Glove each registered over RM300 million profits in a single financial quarter yesterday.

Thus it is fitting that these firms give a portion of their profits back to the hands that fed them.

Without the rubbersmallholders, the rubber industries will be incapacitated.

The rubber gloves corporate sector is already sitting on a mountain of cashpile by now living the good life generated by the stratospheric profits.

Public listed firms such as Top Glove, Supermax, Hartalega and Kossan to name a few are already laughing all the way to the bank right now.

Their shareholders would be earning bountiful dividends and their workers would hopefully be getting multiple bonuses.

Maybe it would be a no-no for corporates to hand out cash to rubber smallholders.

What they can do is to organise corporate social responsibility programmes for rubber smallholders in rural areas.

Believe it or not, these rubber tappers live barely above the poverty line and eat on a hand to mouth basis.

Corporates can volunteer to upgrade their homes by painting it new or repair that perennially leaking roof.

Or perhaps, firms can help raise funds to assist  the poor smallholder send his 8 school going children to buy school supplies.

It is time for rubber glove firms to give back to poor smallholders such as Halim so that he can smile knowing that his children's school expenses for 2021 are taken care of by these generous rubber glove makers.  -  DagangNews.com

The writer is a former NST Business assistant editor