Andrew Sia
COMMENT | The price of vegetables went up by 160 percent in January 2023. Yet in October, over 130 hardworking farmers at Kanthan, north of Ipoh, Perak, who produce tonnes of vegetables, corn and fruits were evicted.
Even more ironic, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced in May that the government is identifying land for food production through Felcra.
When chicken prices were soaring last year, due to the high cost of imported corn feed, suddenly there was talk of planting more corn.
Yet farmers in Kanthan who are already producing corn are being shut down. Is our food security a joke?
Can we feed ourselves?
When India banned rice exports in July, there seemed to be an alarming shortage of rice in Malaysia.
What if, at the same time, Vietnam and Thailand had a drought and stopped selling rice to us?
COMMENT | The price of vegetables went up by 160 percent in January 2023. Yet in October, over 130 hardworking farmers at Kanthan, north of Ipoh, Perak, who produce tonnes of vegetables, corn and fruits were evicted.
Even more ironic, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced in May that the government is identifying land for food production through Felcra.
When chicken prices were soaring last year, due to the high cost of imported corn feed, suddenly there was talk of planting more corn.
Yet farmers in Kanthan who are already producing corn are being shut down. Is our food security a joke?
Can we feed ourselves?
When India banned rice exports in July, there seemed to be an alarming shortage of rice in Malaysia.
What if, at the same time, Vietnam and Thailand had a drought and stopped selling rice to us?
In 2022, we imported RM75 billion of food, an increase from RM63 billion the previous year.
Although Malaysia has such fertile land and climate, 86 percent of our mangoes were imported. So were 63 percent of our cabbages, 90 percent of our mutton and 78 percent of our beef.
READ MORE: KINIGUIDE | Chicken shortage and food insecurity - what's behind it?
What if wars, politics, pandemics or a plunge in the ringgit disrupted these imports? Would we have enough to eat?
This is what food security is about.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim even talked about it during Budget 2024. But Kanthan lies in his own Parliament seat of Tambun.
Can Anwar spare some time from saving the Palestinians to saving farmers in his own district?
Only PSM defended farmers
The only political party defending the farmers there was PSM. And they paid a price, with members arrested or injured.
Where was PKR and DAP? Were they too "busy" being part of the Perak "unity" state government?
PSM chairperson Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj (right) and several others were arrested recently
Meanwhile, the Perak government resorts to desperate damage control, claiming that the Kanthan farmers were not forcefully evicted as it was "done according to the law".
Hello, this is doublespeak because the law allows forceful evictions!
They also claimed that Perak is the first state to launch a Food Security Action Plan and that food security is one of the six agendas in the Perak Sejahtera 2030 plan.
Yeah, yadda yadda yadda. But empty words cannot cover up their actual actions.
The Tambun curse?
When travelling in Vietnam, I saw how every square foot of land there was cultivated. Yet, Malaysia has over 120,00ha of idle agricultural land.
So, the problem is that some who have land don't want to farm, while some people who want to farm lack land.
Perak seems to be notorious for this and Kanthan is not the only case.
Some of the farmland is being targeted for property development. Perhaps it's time to rethink our obsession with landed houses and to give priority to growing food instead.
It's time to build more upwards rather than horizontally. Singapore can house five million people by building condos. Let's not forget that it's easier to have public transport that way, rather than endless suburban sprawl that needs ever more cars.
Meanwhile, the Perak government resorts to desperate damage control, claiming that the Kanthan farmers were not forcefully evicted as it was "done according to the law".
Hello, this is doublespeak because the law allows forceful evictions!
They also claimed that Perak is the first state to launch a Food Security Action Plan and that food security is one of the six agendas in the Perak Sejahtera 2030 plan.
Yeah, yadda yadda yadda. But empty words cannot cover up their actual actions.
The Tambun curse?
When travelling in Vietnam, I saw how every square foot of land there was cultivated. Yet, Malaysia has over 120,00ha of idle agricultural land.
So, the problem is that some who have land don't want to farm, while some people who want to farm lack land.
Perak seems to be notorious for this and Kanthan is not the only case.
Some of the farmland is being targeted for property development. Perhaps it's time to rethink our obsession with landed houses and to give priority to growing food instead.
It's time to build more upwards rather than horizontally. Singapore can house five million people by building condos. Let's not forget that it's easier to have public transport that way, rather than endless suburban sprawl that needs ever more cars.
Pomelos
Pomelos are famous in Perak and they also help in tourism. Yet last year, 13 pomelo growers in Tambun, who had tilled the land for more than 50 years since their father's time, were evicted.
In 2019, the then menteri besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu took away land from vegetable farmers (near Chemor who had tilled it for 40 years) and gave it to 39 Perak footballers and officials for winning the Malaysia Cup final.
In a chilling echo, Faizal was also the MP for the same seat that Anwar holds - Tambun. Is this place a jinx for farmers?
Racial factors?
Since the majority of farmers evicted have been Chinese, while the Perak government is led by Malays, it may be tempting to think racial factors are in play. But things may not be so black and white.
In 2019, eight prawn farmers from Sungai Pari in Chemor were evicted and the land was given to a tycoon who was an honorary adviser of the Federation of Chinese Associations of Malaysia (Hua Zong).
Pomelos are famous in Perak and they also help in tourism. Yet last year, 13 pomelo growers in Tambun, who had tilled the land for more than 50 years since their father's time, were evicted.
In 2019, the then menteri besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu took away land from vegetable farmers (near Chemor who had tilled it for 40 years) and gave it to 39 Perak footballers and officials for winning the Malaysia Cup final.
In a chilling echo, Faizal was also the MP for the same seat that Anwar holds - Tambun. Is this place a jinx for farmers?
Racial factors?
Since the majority of farmers evicted have been Chinese, while the Perak government is led by Malays, it may be tempting to think racial factors are in play. But things may not be so black and white.
In 2019, eight prawn farmers from Sungai Pari in Chemor were evicted and the land was given to a tycoon who was an honorary adviser of the Federation of Chinese Associations of Malaysia (Hua Zong).
In 2017, Perak state awarded 41.7ha of farmland in Pusing to a controversial Chinese businessperson listed as one of Kuala Lumpur’s “four heavenly kings" of the underworld.
In 2022, vegetable farmers from Belakang Chemor found that 32ha was given to companies linked to a former MCA Youth chief.
Would the farmers have been allowed to stay if they were Malays? Perhaps not, because something more sinister than race could be brewing.
When 19.4ha of farmland near Taman Chepor Sentosa was transferred from the Perak State Development Corporation (PKNP) to a private company, PSM chairperson Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj pointed out that the state sold it at a 65 percent discount to market prices.
So maybe it's not so much about race. Instead, was there some "I scratch your back, you scratch mine" going on in Perak? Or in simple language, corruption and cronyism?
ANDREW SIA is a veteran journalist who likes teh tarik khau kurang manis. You are welcome to give him ideas to brew at tehtarik@gmail.com.
Anwar Ibrahim is busy fighting for Hamas.
ReplyDeleteTambun pandai-pandai Jaga sendiri, Ya.
Ya guys can go fly kites...
ReplyDeleteAnwar Ibrahim has to focus on far more important matters, supporting Hamas.