Cassava Plantation for NCR land in Julau ?

I grew up in Julau. Those who know the area and the town, may understand how far remove the town is from big concepts such as Globalisation, Google and Newsweek. But the people of the area, who are mostly Iban, knows what NCR land mean: it is their ancestral land - handed to them from their forefathers who first clear the land a la the Wild Wild West. For the most part, the people are poor peasants, and do not have the capital to develop commercially viable smallholdings, much less a multi-million JV enterprise for Cassava Plantation as published in Bernama in late 2007.

Every now and then, there would be Proposals to develop the large swath of NCR land. And then the talks around coffee shops would be about whose land will be grabbed, and who would be the hidden hand(s) behind it. The landowners by inheritance, for some reason - are always the last to know. Of course there will always be some roadshow when the Tuai Rumah's would be invited to a community hall discussions and feted with good food and entertainment. After a while, perhaps due to reasonable checks and balance in the process and local government institutions, or the investors understand the risk of forcing emotional peasants to part with their land, the proposals deservably fail to materialise and naturally defunct.

Which, looking at the poverty and the static growth in Julau and its surrounding areas - is a pity. The area has good potential given the growth in nearby Sibu, Sarikei and Bintangor. Although Julau is not likely to be anywhere near the likes of Piasau Industrial Estate, or the likes of Kuala Baram, due to the large underdeveloped land (not ordinary land but a mixed primary-secondary forest) it has strong agriculture-based development potential.

A decade from today, Julau may remain as it is. Not that its such as bad thing. The secondary forest would become primary forest and the rivers would still be as pristine as I remember it. Those of us who have made our home outside of Julau may lose our connection with the place and the people. I for one, still entertain the idea of a prosperous Julau. The problem, that apparently blocks it from progressing rapidly as other districts in the country, is many and myriad. I'm not naive to imagine I have a solution - but I do care enough to have some points of view. And from time to time, I will post it here. If you read this post, and you are from Julau, and you have specific ideas on how to develop Julau, I will be interested to hear what you have to say. If have other information about the proposed Cassava Plantation such as the earmark land area, share holder of the JV, and the grassroot respond and sensing of the thousands of landowners, please post.

For a Just World,

Meramat