Indonesia and Malaysia became the two world’s largest oil palm producers within the last four decades, through notably the development of large plantations belonging to private firms. The historical analysis of the grounds of this economic success shows two very different but complementary trajectories. The Malaysian history shows since the colonial times a strong intercession of the state whereas the Indonesian public authorities have always been more liberal regarding economic development. Access to labour, a central aspect of plantation development, has been supported by the Malaysian state in order to cope with the lack of available workers locally. In Indonesia, where labour markets are not as scarce, the laissez-faire is ruling recruitment of workers, who also represent a source of employment for Malaysian plantations. In Indonesian, the settlement of this unskilled labour relies on the possibility to gain land ownership and to develop economic activities on the side of wage work, whereas the question of labour stabilization remains a much more pending issue in Malaysia where illegal labourers from Indonesia and the Philippines represent the quarter of the total labour.