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

Expulsion from the Scheme

Expulsion from the Scheme

Recently, settlers in certain schemes (Bilut Valley) were given expulsion orders. They were asked to leave the schemes before a certain date, and if they failed, they would either be sentenced to imprisonment, ordered to pay exorbitant fines, or be physically removed from the schemes. The reason for the expulsion was that they were found selling rubber scraps (not the latex proper) to an outside dealer, and not the Felda. From time to time, the settlers do sell the scraps to outside dealers not because the money derived from the outside dealer is a better price, but the money derived from the sale is theirs. If they sell to the Felda, the money is Felda's, the settlers' income has been limited by Felda to $70 per month, per family (a sum not even sufficient to maintain one person, never mind a family, especially those having young children).

In some schemes, notably the Bilut Valley and the Babu Jaya, strike actions were taken against the expulsion order, and so far, they have been successful in resisting the high-handed action of the government.

In retaliation to the "outside dealings" the government has blocked the road leading to the schemes with gates, and security guards are stationed there. Thus, not only are the settlers reduced to cheap labour status, their freedom of movement is strictly checked. Is this not similar to New Villages Schemes set up by the British in 1948 to combat so-called "terrorists"? Felda scheme has been turned from an economic development into a political concentration camp.