Legend of the Miller and the Planters — Along the Kinabatangan River

Long ago, deep in the palm oil heartlands along the mighty Kinabatangan River, there lived two kinds of people — the Miller and the Planters.

In every plantation region, you would find one mill manager facing off against five, sometimes ten estate managers. Their battleground? The Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB) quality and the all-important Oil Extraction Rate (OER).

The planters, proud rulers of their vast estates, always felt like sultans of the soil. Each commanded thousands of hectares, dozens of workers, and the rhythm of harvesting days. To them, the mill was merely a service — a machine that should obey their royal supply.

So they would mock the miller, saying,

“Why can’t your mill get a better OER? We send you the best fruit already!”

One day, a seasoned miller — calm but firm — finally replied,

“If you all are sultans of thousands of hectares of land,
then I am the king of this 5-acre mill.
And remember, my kingdom has one power —
I can reject any of your bad-quality fruit.”

Since that day, the legend was born —
that Millers and Planters will never fully get along, bound forever in a rivalry as old as the palm trees themselves.

And yet, without one, the other cannot thrive for the King needs the Sultans’ fruit,
and the Sultans need the king's mill.

#planter #miller #palmoilmill