As a migrant worker who has spent almost three decades away from my hometown, one of the questions I am often asked whenever I return home and meet relatives is, “What kind of work do you do?”
It is a very simple question to answer. However, explaining the sector of the palm oil industry in which I work is not always easy. The terminology can be highly technical and full of industry jargon, making it difficult to explain to relatives who have no connection with the palm oil industry.
Some even expect to hear that I work in a government department, perhaps as a teacher or government officer.
My usual answer used to be, “I work in a factory.”
That answer, however, would often create even more questions. Factory workers are not necessarily well known in society, and factory work is sometimes perceived as a low-class occupation.
This situation has repeated itself year after year, and I have always tried to find a better way to explain what I actually do.
When I say that I work in a palm oil mill, the next question is often:
“Oh, FELDA?”
“No, a private company.”
So, this time, I decided to explain it in much greater detail — the palm oil industry, the people working in it, and the journey that has shaped my career.
This is exactly what I have been trying to do since 2009, when I first started writing on my blog, Kembara Insan.
Although Malaysia was once the world's largest producer of palm oil, not many Malaysians know the industry in detail or understand the lives of the people who work and sacrifice so much within it.
Through my writing, I have tried to promote the palm oil industry while also telling the stories of the people whose lives and careers are deeply connected to it.
What makes my journey even more unique is that my career in the palm oil industry began in 2004 in Lahad Datu, Sabah, Malaysia, in the upstream sector. In 2015, I moved into the downstream sector.
In simple terms, the upstream sector covers oil palm plantations and palm oil mills.
In 2025, Malaysia had approximately 6 million hectares of oil palm plantations across the country, while Indonesia had approximately 17 million hectares, placing Indonesia in the position of the world's largest palm oil producer.
Malaysia also had 452 palm oil mills. Sabah was the largest producer within Malaysia, with 128 palm oil mills, while Sarawak had 84 palm oil mills.
These were the environments in which I gained my experience from 2004 to 2025.
Oil palm trees are planted in plantations and begin producing fruit from around their third year, with harvesting continuing until around twenty years of age, depending on company policy.
The fresh fruit bunches, or FFB, are then transported to palm oil mills throughout the country.
This is where the careers of planters and millers begin — wherever oil palms are planted.
They may work for giant government-linked companies, private companies, or
smallholders, either in Malaysia or overseas. If a company has operations in another country, planters and millers may also be assigned to work overseas according to the company's requirements.
I worked in palm oil mills in Sabah and Sarawak from 2004 until 2015.
A palm oil mill does not produce only crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernels. It also generates various by-products, including sludge oil, palm kernel shells and empty fruit bunches (EFB).
Some of these biomass materials can be used as boiler fuel, while EFB can also contribute to industries such as the furniture industry.
There are also palm oil mills equipped with incinerators for disposing of empty fruit bunches, producing boiler ash as another by-product.
The sludge oil sector also has a significant market in the biodiesel and oleochemical industries, where palm-based feedstocks are used to produce products such as palm methyl ester and fatty acids, as well as feedstocks for the energy sector, including biodiesel.
If today we buy diesel at a petrol station under the term B7, it means that the diesel contains 7% palm-based biodiesel.
Our neighbouring country has been even more aggressive in its biodiesel programme. Indonesia began mandating B2.5 biodiesel in 2008, and by 2026, Indonesia has implemented B50.
Indonesia is also expected to introduce a B100 policy in the future.
B100 would mean that the fuel contains 100% palm-based biodiesel.
Apart from oil and biomass, palm oil mills can also generate another valuable resource from their effluent treatment ponds — methane gas.
According to MPOB, a palm oil mill with a capacity of 60 metric tonnes of FFB per hour produces approximately 216,000 m³ of POME per year.
There is potential to generate approximately 3.73 million Nm³ of methane per year, equivalent to around 6.73 million m³ of biogas per year.
MPOB has also estimated that approximately 1.8 kWh of electricity can be generated from 1 m³ of biogas using a gas engine.
This was one of the main reasons I decided to obtain my Internal Combustion Engine Engineer licence in 2011.
Then, in 2015, I changed direction and entered the downstream sector, joining the palm oil refinery industry.
After working in almost five palm oil mills in Sabah and Sarawak, moving into downstream processing was a major step outside my comfort zone.
And honestly, it was not easy.
If someone were to ask me today, I would probably say that I would still like to return to being a miller and live once again in the beautiful environment of an oil palm plantation.
That is one of the reasons why I write so much about my experiences in the palm oil industry — the places where I built my career and where I built a small family life together with my wife and our five children.
From the palm oil mill, crude palm oil and palm kernels are transported to downstream facilities.
At the palm oil refinery, crude palm oil undergoes processes such as degumming, bleaching, deodorisation and fractionation.
Among the products produced are:
RBD Palm Oil
RBD Palm Olein
RBD Palm Stearin
PFAD (Palm Fatty Acid Distillate)
Palm Mid Fraction
Meanwhile, oleochemical plants use products from palm oil refineries as feedstocks to produce fatty acids, fatty alcohols, methyl esters, glycerine/glycerol, fatty esters and specialty chemicals.
These products are manufactured through processes such as splitting, distillation, fractionation and hydrogenation/esterification.
They are then used in the production of many everyday products, including:
Soap
Detergents
Cosmetics
Personal care products
Pharmaceuticals
Candles
Industrial chemicals
Surfactants
The biodiesel sector is another important downstream industry.
Feedstocks such as CPO, PFAD, palm fatty acids and palm methyl ester are processed through transesterification and/or esterification to produce palm methyl ester (PME), or biodiesel, together with glycerine as a by-product.
PME is part of a very broad industrial ecosystem.
It can be associated with applications such as:
Biodiesel
Oleochemicals
Soap and detergents — including surfactants and cleaning products.
Cosmetics and personal care — including creams, lotions, shampoos and other personal care products.
Industrial lubricants
Solvents and industrial chemicals — including applications in cleaning, degreasing, paint and coatings, and chemical processing.
The palm oil industry is also increasingly connected to the development of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
The industry can supply important feedstocks such as PFAD, palm fatty acids, used cooking oil, palm oil and palm derivatives, which can subsequently undergo hydrogenation and hydroprocessing through Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA) pathways.
These processes can produce renewable diesel, naphtha/light hydrocarbons and gas.
After more than two decades working in this industry, I have become a witness to how the palm oil industry has transformed the lives of millions of people in Malaysia and Indonesia.
From upstream to downstream, there are countless people whose careers, families and livelihoods are connected to this industry.
I am proud to be one of them.
My journey began in Borneo, and today, I am still part of the palm oil industry in Sumatra, Indonesia.
This is my story today.
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