How ‘saviour’ Anwar abandons farmers

Many Malaysians may not have heard about the vegetable farmers of Kanthan, but they may possibly take notice when the price of locally grown vegetables rises further, or when greens are in short supply.

The MP for the place, an area beyond the town of Chemor, Perak, is Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. It lies within his parliamentary seat of Tambun and the Hulu Kinta state constituency is said to be the single largest vegetable-producing region in Perak.

These farmers have been cultivating vegetables and fruits and rearing fish in the Kanthan area for over six decades, but the authorities seem oblivious to this and are locked in a running battle with them.

In the past few days, Anwar’s parliamentary constituents would have observed his highly publicised and emotive performance on their television screens, defending the Palestinians in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied territories.

Many will also wonder if the prime minister is aware of their plight. His absence has been noticed and in contrast, Anwar is more active in crisscrossing borders in the Middle East and the West, keen on solving problems on the world stage.

The irony is that in the 15th general election, the farmers said they voted for Anwar because they firmly believed that he was their saviour (4).

A vegetable farm in Kanthan

The local farmers and the Chemor Modern Farmers Association (CMFA) chief said the state government wrongly labelled them as “illegal farmers” intent on obstructing development in the area.

Incredibly, the Kinta District and Land Office, Ipoh, accused the farmers of occupying land belonging to the Perak State Development Corporation (PKNP) without legal authority.

Ever since 2010, the farmers and CMFA have held several meetings with the Perak Land and Mines (PTG) Office and Kinta District and Land Office.

PKNP promised parcels of land as a replacement, but when hilly plots, which the farmers deemed unsuitable for their crops were offered, and promptly rejected - they were then served with eviction notices.

The officials who claim that the farmers are illegal squatters need to cast their minds back to the past - when Tambun and the Kanthan/Chemor/Sungai Siput countryside had heightened communist activity.

Cultivated land was limited to rubber trees and later, oil palm. Cocoa and coffee were grown until they perished from disease. World prices and global demand dictated the crops that were grown.

The settlers and vegetable farmers moved in about 70 years ago, during the Emergency, when communist guerrillas roamed the area. The PKNP had not been formed as the state was still ruled by the British.

Pomelo grown at a farm in Kanthan

Many areas were dense jungle and Chinese settlers were relocated into the heavily guarded New Villages.

The British claimed that it was for the farmers’ own protection, to keep them safe from the marauding communist guerrillas of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) who would demand food, hardware materials and medicine from them.

Conversely, the MCP would argue that the British colonial administrators were placing Chinese settlers in open prisons, and only allowed out during the day, to work in the rubber estates, the tin mines or their vegetable plots. They had to return to the New Villages by 6pm.

Few farmers had the money to buy land, so they grew crops on the jungle verges, with or without the permission of the state.

In most cases, the authorities encouraged land cultivation so that the farmers became self-sufficient.

When the agriculture industry became more active, most villagers, Malay, Chinese and Indian settlers/farmers would approach the Land Office to obtain Temporary Occupation Licences (TOL).

A fee was paid, and the TOL was given in the name of the licence holder and was not transferable should he die. TOLs could be withdrawn at any time.

A farmer in Kanthan

So, why weren't the vegetable farmers in Kanthan and Chemor given first refusal? These people have a direct bond with the land and their crops. They became successful from their hard work. They did not depend on government handouts.

The PKNP are only interested in the development potential of the land. They do not care about the farmers, the land, the locally grown vegetables and the labour and employment opportunities the farmers help to generate.

These issues came to a head on the morning of Oct 24, when officials from the PTG Office came to evict the farmers but they totally mismanaged the situation. They acted like thugs and used brute force (5).

In the ensuing melee, a PSM activist, Chong Yee Shan was shoved to the ground and sustained facial injuries and broke her tooth.

The PSM chairperson Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj was arrested (7), together with a few other PSM activists.

Today, development and urban sprawl have brought the twin problems of greed and commercial exploitation to the farmer's doorstep.

PSM chairperson Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj getting arrested for protesting against eviction

Malaysia has a food security crisis; it imports much of its food, agricultural-based companies depend on migrant labour for their workforce and the government is clueless about making farming an attractive career proposition for young people.

We do not need a war to show how precarious our food supply chain is, or droughts and flooding to hammer home the message that we are nature’s mercy when it comes to food crops.

The government has failed to help Malaysians during the cost of living crisis and when prices of food have spiralled out of control.

So, when will Anwar return to serve his constituents, especially the farmers of Kanthan? - Mkini

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MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army, and the president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO). Blog, Twitter.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.