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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol. 37, No. 7. April, 17 1974

[Introduction]

Armed policeman search for "illegal" tapioca planter near Sungai Siput (Ipoh). Circle shows newly harvested tapioca left by the planters.

Armed policeman search for "illegal" tapioca planter near Sungai Siput (Ipoh). Circle shows newly harvested tapioca left by the planters.

Resettlement of landless peasant families under the "Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) is seen by "foreign experts" as the most successful attempt to remove the problems of landlessness in Malaya. Felda schemes ore the most publicised projects in the country However, this optimistic view is at once exposed by the revelation of the facts.

According to the Government's census in 1955, there were then 750,000 peasant families who were landless. By 1968, according to a radio broadcast by Tun Razak (then the deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Rural Development) the government had succeeded in settling 14,000 peasant families which means that in the 14 years after "independence", only 1000 families were resettled each year. Thus a mere 2% of the total number of landless families benefit from this very expensive scheme At this rate, it will take the government at least 320 years to resettle the landless peasants. This is not taking into account the number of the peasant families who are made landless each year though rural landlordism and exorbitant land taxes resulting in accumulation of lands into fewer hands in the rural areas.

Thus, not only is the Felda scheme a failure, but also a sham—it is used to cover up the peed for total land reform in the countryside. People with liberal attitudes tend to be happy at the ahievement of the government in the sense that at least 14,000 families enjoy the benefits of the scheme. However, even this view is deflated when facts and figures are revealed.