Academic dispels myth of lazy rural folk

Serina Abdul Rahman says those living in rural areas are often stuck in a ‘cycle of difficult circumstances’.

KUALA LUMPUR: An academic has disputed the argument that rural communities are lazy and unproductive, saying they still lack access to the help they need to climb out of poverty under the present government.

Serina Abdul Rahman, of ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, also said that after the last general election, there has been increased perception that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government is unable to help people living in rural areas.

She said this is because the government had cancelled schemes such as BR1M and repeatedly made comments about their inflexibility to effect changes and self-improvement.

Serina, who has conducted research at a fishing village in Johor, argued that those living in rural areas are often stuck in a cycle of difficult circumstances, which makes it harder for them to meet the high cost of living.

She said it is also difficult for them to shift to new technology because of lack of capital and high risk.

“It is not easy for them to, for example, move to aquaculture, which is being mooted as a solution (for fishermen). Where are they going to get the capital from?” she asked during a panel discussion on “Redefining Malaysian Politics – Moving Away from Identity to Policies” in conjunction with the 4th Liberalism Conference organised by the Institute For Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) here yesterday.

Serina also noted a lack of representatives willing to visit their villages to gather information.

“Who comes down to the warung, jetty or kampung? Nobody.

“We have people pretending to be the representatives and speaking on their behalf but how many of them actually know or care about what’s happening?” she asked.

She said mechanisms to distribute government handouts are ineffective because of the presence of middlemen.

She asked if village representatives, village heads or political branch representatives – who usually represent rural folk – are blocking their access to government resources and assistance.

“We know, for example – and it has been announced a few times – there is assistance for fishermen.

“But what happens on the ground is it doesn’t get to them. It goes to the regional fishermen’s association, then it gets siphoned off, either to whoever is a friend or family or crony, or it goes to the people who usually don’t even go to sea.

“The fishermen are not getting anything because they are not part of the in-crowd. They are not connected to those people in the hierarchy,” she said.

Serina also argued that, due to their circumstances, they were more prone to outside influences from political groups that instigate racial tension.

“We have discussed this a lot among us researchers who are looking at this. We realise if the government is able to meet their economic needs, they will not go back to race and religion.

“The places I go to, there are mixed ethnicities, there are Chinese fishermen and they get on very well (with the Malays).

“There is no actual racial tension on the ground, this is instigated by the politicians.”

Serina added that if rural folk see improvement in their economic wellbeing, they may be able to move away from identity and racial politics.

“If everybody had a lifeline – if everybody saw the assistance that was promised in the media actually getting down to them – then it would be easier to move them away from ethnic politics to actually improving the country together.”

However, Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah, who was also on the panel, argued that solving economic woes and increasing economic growth will not necessarily lead to a shift from identity politics, “because we are talking about a mindset that has lived with us for many, many years”.

Instead, she called for the government to implement the recommendations made by the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), set up in 2013 following the 13th general election.

One of the recommendations was to introduce laws governing national harmony and hate speech.

“They recommended two laws – the National Harmony and Integration Bill and the Anti-Racial and Crime Bill,” she said.

Maria said the NUCC also recommended the setting up of a National Harmony and Integration Commission.

She opined that these suggestions will set a legal precedent as to why there is a need to safeguard racial and religious harmony in the country. - FMT