Kuching
Tuesday, 30th Nov 2010
Is the Dividend Pay-Out Significant To The Participants/Landowners?
After 34 Years SALCRA Still Fails To Eradicate Poverty Among the Iban
Lesson Learn to The Land Owner So As Not To Enter JV With Pelita and Private Company
One of the land owner from Empaling, Sg Tenggang who had enter into the JV with Tetangga Akrab has one day asked Bukittunggal whether he still can withdraw from the JV? My answer to him was "None" as we had already "surrender" or probate our NCR lands to the company.
Mupok Aku
Tuesday, 30th Nov 2010
SALCRA's Participants: This is Where Your Dividend Gone To
SALCRA : After 34 Years Of Being Established Only Manage to Pay It Participants RM124 Per Hectare/Month For Year 2010 Dividend
Alfred Jabu today has made an announcement that Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (Salcra) is to pay the biggest dividend ever next year, and it will be disbursed in two phases.
Jabu who is also the SALCRA Chairman proudly told the reporters that SALCRA participants or landowners who run 18 estates will receive a total sum of RM 74.26 million. According to him the 2010 payout is a marked increase by more than RM37 million compared with 2009, where only RM37 million was paid out. But 2009 divident was lesser than year 2008, where the divident was paid at RM52 million.
Is the Dividend Pay-Out Significant To The Participants/Landowners?
The RM 74.26 Million may be sound big but if we divide it by 50000 hectares which is the size of lands being developed by SALCRA, we will find that each hectare is only paid with RM 1485.20 per year or RM 124.00 of dividend per month. The amount still doesn't enough to uplift the standard of living of the participants to surpass the "below poverty line", but is very much better than the advance dividend paid to the land owner that participate in the JV with PELITA and private company (Please see HERE for the amount of the Advance Dividends that were paid per hectare/per year and month to the NCR land owners ).
Historically, SALCRA was established on 1st May 1976, as a Government Statutory Body under the Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority Ordinance, 1976. The main purpose of establishing SALCRA was to enable and assist the State Government in achieving the objectives of the New Economic Policy (NEP), particularly concerning the eradication of poverty.
In Sarawak, a person is considered as living under the poverty line if his/her income is below RM 765 per month. There are 20,000 participants or landowner that participated with SALCRA oil palm plantation. Based on this figure, each participant will be paid an average of RM 310 dividend per month. Has it surpassed Malaysian's "under the poverty line" ?
After 34 Years SALCRA Still Failes To Achieve Its Mission: Not surprised because some Ibans have been acting as Running Dog for Taib Mahmud...Anyone look familiar?
The main mission for SALCRA when it was first established in year 1976 was to eradicate poverty especially among the rural Sarawakians. But until now SALCRA still failed to achieve it mission.
The amount of divident declared by SALCRA yesterday was far below the amount which will uplift the income of the participants to the RM 765 level.
I am not writting this article today just to blatantly condemn Jabu or SALCRA. My aim is to tell them that they still need to do a lot in order to uplift the living standard of the participants away from the poverty line. Jabu must also sincere to the participants and stop mislead them. They have to be told until SALCRA can pay them the monthly dividend of RM 765 per month until then SALCRA's is still fail in achieving its mission.
Eventhought SALCRA after 34 years of its establishment it still cannot achieved their mission that is to eradicate poverty but their terms and agreements with land owners are much better than the JV, such as ; SALCRA land lease is only 25 years and beyond that the land owners can decide whether to continue or to discontinue the lease, and the last point, the land owners are the participants themselves.
But for the JV with Pelita and Private company, the term of agreement is totally differents from SALCRA such as :-
(1) Land lease for 60 years ( Once the land owner enter into JV, in summary the land has been sold to the company)If We Had Already Enter Into JV What Choice Do We Still Have
(2) Share equity : 60% company, 30% land owner and 10 % Pelita ( The moment the JV is signed, the land owner had already lost 70% of the value of the land.
(3)Management of the estate : Land owners have no part to play ( The landowners will have to recieve the same pay with immigrant Indonesian workers )
(3) Divident : RM 150 per hectare per year or RM 12.50 per month
In one of the land dispute between the NCR Landowners and the company, the police had been used by the company in robbing their lands. Did anyone heard Jabu and Masing ever condemned the police for their brutality against the land owners who were all the Iban?
One of the land owner from Empaling, Sg Tenggang who had enter into the JV with Tetangga Akrab has one day asked Bukittunggal whether he still can withdraw from the JV? My answer to him was "None" as we had already "surrender" or probate our NCR lands to the company.
But this was not the end I told him as we still have hope. And our only hope is through Pakatan Rakyat (PR). Yes, if we want to get back our NCR lands from the company our only hope is with the Pakatan Rakyat. Saudara Baru Bian, the Sarawak PKR's Chief promised that if Pakatan Rakyat successfully wresting Petra Jaya from Barisan Nasional in the coming state election, the land Commission will be set-up to handle all matters related to NCR lands. And if this is happen, many of the Ibans will become the instant millionaire!
So the owner of the NCR lands if you want to take back your NCR land from the private company, and become instant millionaire, our only hope is through PR therefore we MUST VOTE FOR PAKATAN RAKYAT.
Mupok Aku