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

Land taxes in rural Malaya

Land taxes in rural Malaya

Malaya is a paradise for foreign investors Not only can they reap cheap labour, but they also enjoy tax-holidays for a period from five to eight years. A further extension is allowed if the government agrees. (In a report in The Guardian, last month, Mr Adam Raphael—reporter—found that South Africa has the highest rate of return for foreign investment in the world after Malaysia). They also enjoy a lower rate of taxation.

In plantation industries, foreign capitalists pay land taxes of a mere 30 to 60 cents per acre each year, while a villager in a rural areas has to pay between SB to $12 per year for the same amount of acreage.

According to a new land tax law, the government can expropriate any land belonging to a peasant if he is unable to pay his land taxes, without the option of giving the peasnat the chance to buy the land by auction as formerly done, or putting his case for his failure to pay the taxes. The 'Utusan Melayu' (Malay Mail) reported on August 8, 1972 that the District Officer of Temerloh issued a warning to villagers in the District that their lands would be grabbed by the government unless they paid their taxes. The warning came at a time when a great number of villagers in the district were unable to pay land taxes due to their falling income because of the tailing rubber prices.

Income in rural Malaya has fallen to a level lower than any other period since 1957. Thus more and more underprivileged peasants will be rendered landless due to this new land-grabbing policy of the government.

Only when the peasants unite in struggle will the land-grabbers be crushed.

(The above article is from Berita Socialist. Vol. 2, No. 4)