Musang King crisis reflects bleak future in agriculture — Ho Chi Yang

MM Online:

Musang King crisis reflects bleak future in agriculture — Ho Chi Yang

JULY 15 — Theoretically speaking, the Malaysian government is committed to increasing agriculture productivity to meet local and international demands. For instance, our National Agro-food Policy (2011-2020) sets many strategies to achieve the abovementioned purpose, including to increase fruit production such as durians, pineapples, and bananas in line with the increasing demand for fruits.

Things might look good on paper, but the reality on the ground is far from being realised by the government. Instead, some bizarre and brutal actions taken by the government are paradoxical to what it pledges.

Just recently, the Pahang state government, by claiming that it intended to uphold the noble cause of “environment protection”, launched an enforcement operation against some durian farms in Raub.

The Pahang Forestry Department boasted its own trumpet by announcing that a total of 15,000 trees were chopped down in merely nine days, notwithstanding that a flash flood happened in some areas in Raub right after the enforcement was carried out.

A responsible govt should work with farmers, not destroy farms

Studies show that many agricultural activities would cause pollution or environmental degradation to a certain extent. As such, researchers and academics would usually propose establishing stronger collaboration between the government and the farmers in order to minimise the problem while ensuring the sustainability of agriculture.

A responsible, caring, and far-sighted government should educate the farmers about ways to preserve the environment and provide training and technical assistance to minimise the ensuing problems caused by farming. It should also actively collaborate with the local farmers to come up with strategic plans to move towards sustainable agriculture.

Destroying farms that had been cultivated by small farmers for 10-20 years, on the other hand, was simply mind-boggling and terrifying.

The Pahang State Forestry Department destroyed about 15,000 durian trees in Hutan Simpanan Batu Talam within nine days. — Picture courtesy of Samka

Double standards in dealing with oil palms and durians

In contrast to durians, certain crops such as oil palms seemingly enjoyed preferential treatment by the Malaysian government.

To visualise the difference between the two crops, the size of oil palm plantations in Malaysia almost keeps increasing every year. The total size of land use for palm oil production stands at 5.24 million hectares in 2018. After receiving complaints from NGOs and the international community, such as the European Union (EU), the Primary Industries Ministry then announced that the plantation areas will be capped at about 6.5 million hectares by 2023.

(A chart on land use for palm oil production is attached. Source: https://ourworldindata.org/palm-oil)

When the EU claimed that oil palm plantations in Malaysia are responsible for deforestation and endangering biodiversity, did our government resort to destroying all oil palm plantations in the name of environmental preservation, just like how the Pahang government treated durian farms recently?

Certainly not. In fact, a sensible government will consult the experts and engage with NGOs and other stakeholders, including large-scale and small-scale owners of oil palm plantation, to come up with a comprehensive and sustainable plan to protect the environment on the one hand, while continuing to produce high-quality palm oil on the other hand.

With that, the government can fulfill its obligations to protect the environment while continuing to improve the people’s livelihood via the primary industry or agriculture.

However, why did the Pahang government practice double standards when it comes to other types of crops, such as durians? Why didn’t the government resort to raising awareness among farmers and provide technical assistance to minimise the environmental impact?

All crops are equal, but oil palms are more equal than other crops such as durians.

Farmers vilified by propaganda machines

The Pahang government kept accusing the small-scale durian farmers of polluting the environment but has never shown any evidence, such as environmental data to substantiate its allegations.

Ironically, it is the same state government that is always mired in controversy due to its abysmal track record on the environment. Among all, the mining activities in the Tasik Chini area and rare-earth mining in the Jelai forest shocked the nation once the news was exposed.

As small farmers are utterly powerless compared to the state government, the state propaganda machines often vilify the small farmers, labeling them as “eco-terrorists”. Due to the unequal status, the small farmers could hardly rebut the accusations, some of which were merely hearsay that was not supported by facts and figures.

Reaping profit at the expense of small farmers

The stark contrast in the treatments received by the two types of crops boils down to the mentality embraced by the politicians at the helm of the country and the government agencies: Enriching GLCs and large corporations whenever the market for a certain type of good is profitable while ignoring the small-scale farmers.

In Raub, it was reported that the Pahang government granted 1213ha of forest land, near the area where durian trees were recently chopped down, to a well-connected consortium called Royal Pahang Durian Resources-PKPP. It was also said that the area granted to the consortium was actually a water catchment area and a habitat for tigers.

Besides, Royal Pahang Durian offered to “legalise” the other farms of durian farmers in Raub by requiring them to sign an unequal contract, thus essentially making them as “modern-day slaves”.

Why did the state government easily grant a large swathe of land to the consortium, that has no proven track record in durian farming or processing? Why did the government give the consortium the right to reap benefits from farmers who have been cultivating their farms for decades?

Unfortunately, the government doesn’t seem to be proud of the significant achievements of the small durian farmers, who have already established Musang King durians as a renowned international brand all on their own.

After Musang King durians became the geese that lay the golden eggs, the Pahang government, mesmerised by the potential short-term profit, intended to forcefully reap the fruits of the farmers. Sadly, it is not interested in assisting local farmers to improve their yields while protecting the environment in order to achieve more breakthroughs in both the domestic and the international market.

Small farmers spent years to plant and cultivate their crops, yet the government can, as it sees fit, seize the fruits of farmers’ labour. If this is the message that the government intends to deliver, the agricultural sector’s future is bleak.



* Ho Chi Yang is from Cameron Highlands, Pahang. He also witnessed the Pahang state government taking similarly brutal actions against many vegetable farms in Cameron Highlands in 2019.

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MM Online (25 July 2019):

Facing eviction, Hulu Kinta farmers ask Perak MB to save land carved out for football team

Parti Sosialis Malaysia chairman Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj speaks to reporters at the entrance of the State Secretariat Building in Ipoh July 25, 2019. — Picture by Farhan Najib

IPOH, July 25 — A group of farmers from Hulu Kinta are hoping Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu will intervene to let them keep the land on which they have long toiled, instead of allowing the government to award it to the state football team as reward for their Malaysia Cup victory last year.

PSM chairman Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj, who represented the seven farmers, said that they have been cultivating in the land for about 50 years, from the time of their forefathers.

“The farmers were shocked when they received a 14-day eviction notice dated July 5. The notice said that they could be fined RM500,000 or jailed five years or both for occupying government land.

“The notice also stated that action could be taken against the farmers without prior notice and they can be charged in court if they disobey the eviction order,” he told reporters when met at the State Secretariat Building here.

He hopes the MB will help the farmers, noting that they are constituents under Tambun, the parliamentary seat held by Ahmad Faizal.

Dr Jeyakumar pointed out that those affected are small scale farmers who occupy a small piece of land measuring between 0.81 hectares and 2.02 hectares each.

He said the farmers had sought the help of Hulu Kinta assemblyman Muhamad Arafat Varisai Mahamad after the notice was issued.

“The assemblyman contacted the Land Office and told the farmers that the land was given to the Perak football team and was also approved by the mentri besar,” he said.

On May 3, Ahmad Faizal awarded land to 39 Perak footballers and officials for winning the Malaysia Cup final last year against Terengganu.

supposedly a Pakatan MB for Perak, he eff-ed up farmers working on their land for 50 years, just to gift the land to his footballers

Dr Jeyakumar said that the fruit and vegetable farmers are happy the mentri besar was willing to reward the Perak football team for the success, but worried of losing their land, which is the sole source of their livelihood.

“There are hundreds of hectares of land belong to government-linked companies. They should give these lands to the football team, not the ones occupied by the small farmers,” he said.

He also said that the farmers had previously applied for temporary occupation licenses (TOL), after receiving a similar notice nine years ago.

“No TOL or grants were given to them despite the farmers repeated application. They are willing to follow all the laws and procedures and pay all the taxes involved in using the land.

“They are not big-scale or commercial farmers; they are cultivating to make ends meet. The government should consider giving them a temporary grant or license,” he said, adding the farmers mostly cultivate eggplant, spinach, lime, Chinese mustard, okra and several other local fruits.

Dr Jeyakumar also urged the Land Office not to force the farmers to evacuate until the negotiation process has been finalised.

The Perak Government has reportedly taken away land from hard working small farmers who have been tilling the land for four decades to give to 39 footballers and officials for winning the Malaya Cup.

There are several issues that need to be considered here.
HOW DID THE FOOTBALLERS HELP THE PEOPLE OF PERAK?

Farmers are the ones who put food on our table. Those in the Ulu Chemor, Ulu Kinta district supply fresh vegetables to Ipoh. Already farmers have been turfted out in another area – Changkat Kinding – where a housing development is coming up. This action of the State Government will result in higher price vegetables in Ipoh.

If the State Government is forward thinking, it should be alienating more land for farming not take them away.

That is one point. The other point raised by the small farmers is if the State wants to reward the footballers why not give land owned by state-owned corporations like Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Perak (PKNP), MB Inc, State Secretary Incorporated (SSI).

For that matter Ahmad Faizal should ask former politicians who rewarded themselves lots of valuable land to give up their undeserved lucre to these farmers. There are lots of land in the Ampang area near the Iskandar Polo Club which the state can give. Azumu knows this well.

Without taking this argument further as to which land to give; we should ask ourselves this very fundamental question: Why must footballers who are paid to play be rewarded? They are paid princely sums to kick a ball around, is that not enough? I can understand giving land to sportsmen and women in the days when they did it for the love of the sport and for the honour of representing their state or country. I wonder if Ng Boon Bee and Tan Yee Khan (badminton) and Wong Kong Leong (football) as well as others in different sports ever got anything for winning even higher honours than the Malaysia Cup.

Frankly we pamper our sportsmen/women too much – thousands of ringgit for winning this, land for that and Datoship for doing what they should be doing. I don’t mind the latter because it costs nothing.

Politicians must stop using the people’s money and assets irresponsibly.

Earlier, Dr Jeyakumar, together with the affected farmers, handed over a letter seeking the mentri besar to intervene at the entrance of the State Secretariat Building, which was received by the latter’s office’s administration officer Shaza Mohd Shah.

Ahmad Faizal had repeatedly said that he will help small-scale farmers who are using government land under the special committee set up earlier this year to resolve the problem of squatters and the illegal occupation of government land.