MALAY RUBBER SMALLHOLDING AND BRITISH POLICY: A CASE STUDY OF THE BATANG PADANG DISTRICT IN PERAK (1876-1952).

摘要

Various reasons motivated Malays in Batang Padang who were traditionally padi cultivators, forest produce gatherers, petty traders and miners to adopt rubber. The expanding tin mines in the district polluted padi areas, while financial and technical aids promised by the British for their padi cultivation were short coming. The introduction of land regulations and the imposition of various taxes and fees further curtailed the Malays' activities in the other occupations. But it was large profits accrued by rubber as demonstrated by large European estates that had the strongest impact on the Malays. Hence the first decade of the 19th century witnessed the spread of rubber cultivation on Malay land.;By being involved in rubber, the Malays had participated in an economic activity dominated and controlled by large capitalists. In the efforts to control production to maintain reasonable prices, the Stevenson Restriction Scheme and the International Rubber Regulation Agreement were established. These schemes discriminated against the smallholders in terms of production and export. The situation was further aggravated by the government's establishment of the Rubber Licensing Board which further limited the smallholders' freedom in marketing their products.;The post war rubber redevelopment schemes such as the Colonial Development and Welfare Scheme and the Draft Development Plan met with limited success because of lack of planning and urgency. The establishment of the Rubber Industry (Replanting) Fund B and the Rural and Industrial Development Authority focused development plans towards the rural rubber population especially the Malays who now held the balance of electoral power in their hands. Like the previous schemes, these agencies failed in the initial years because of conflicting government objectives and lack of planning. But because Malays now held the voting majority, future development programs seemed to favor them.;The participation of Malays in the production of rubber had upset the government's policy to make them padi growers to supply food for the burgeoning labor population on estates and in mines. Various regulations and enactments were introduced to circumscribe the Malays' activities in rubber and to encourage them in padi planting. However, these did not seem to deter the smallholders from continuing their activities in the more remunerative rubber production.