Category: Land

Felda — NEP’s Most Conspicuous Failure

Speech by Parliament Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Kit Siang in Dewan Rakyat on the estimates of the Ministry of Land and Regional Development on December 1, 1982

The New Economic Policy was promulgated and implemented in 1970 with the objective of restructuring society so that there would be no identification of race with vocation or location.

Through the NEP Five-Year Malaysia Plans, there was much talk about government plans to increase the Malay population in the towns, as well as to increase the non-Malay population in the rural areas. Unfortunately what we see today is merely the swift urbanization of the Malaysia, without any serious effort to increase non-Malay population in the rural areas by providing agricultural opportunities, like opening up land for non-Malaysia. Continue reading Felda — NEP’s Most Conspicuous Failure

The 1976 Budget – The Weakened Ringgit

The 1976 Budget presented by the Finance Minister last Thursday and the accompanying Treasury/ Economic Report 1975-1976 raised many big questions about the health and future of the Malaysian economy, like the weakened Ringgit, the poor economic performance of the country, mounting unemployment, continued high rate of inflation, rising public debts, the new tax proposals, and the failure to make any appreciable progress to eliminate poverty and redress economic imbalances between the haves and the have-notes.

I shall deal with these various issues. Continue reading The 1976 Budget – The Weakened Ringgit

Twenty -Year neglect of the 750,000 new villages

The House is asked to approve $1,334 million for next year’s development expenditure. We are told that the development allocations are well balanced and realistic and will contribute to the implementation of the Second Five-Year Plan.

However, to one great group of Malaysians, all these propaganda do not make any impression. In fact, for them, the last one year’s ceaseless propaganda and publicity avalanche by the Government through the press, radio and television about the Second Five-Year Plan, how it would change the economy of the country, abolish poverty, create jobs, and give a new hope and better life to the poor and downtrodden, had failed to make any impact whatsoever. These are the 750,000 new villagers in Malaysia. For the last twenty years, after their compulsory resettlement by the British colonialists, they have seen economic development and progress passed them by. For two decades, the new villagers have been excluded from the mainstream of economic development and progress. Continue reading Twenty -Year neglect of the 750,000 new villages