Peasants, the state and policy constraints: The political economy of rural development in peninsular Malaysia 1957–69

Abstract

This article draws attention to two propositions concerning the analysis of public policy formation. First, such analysis should take account of inherent constraints that the state faces in the formulation and implementation of its economic policies. Second, policy analysis must necessarily deal with specific historical contexts within which constraints on state policy formation operate. The main purpose of this article is to apply these two propositions to a study of the rural development strategy pursued by the Alliance government in Peninsular Malaysia. A second purpose is to derive from the empirical case certain theoretical implications which can be relevant for the analysis of the role of the state in economic development.

Changing Resource-Based Manufacturing Industry: The Case of the Rubber Industry in Malaysia and Thailand

“…After independence, the RRIM continued to develop high-yield clones and encourage their use in replanting (MRB 2000). During the 1960s, high-yield clones covered 60% of the rubber land of smallholders (Doshi 1988;Iwasa 2005). In line with the Mahathir government's Industrial Master Plan I (IMP I) and Industrial Master Plan II (IMP II), the production of the RRIM 900 series of seeds raised the average annual latex yield to 1500 kg/ha by the 1990s.…”

“…However, the life of many small farmers was stressful because they had to bear financial burdens not only for living expenses during the 6-7 years before the rubber trees became available for tapping, but also for replanting costs and export taxes(Doshi 1988;Iwasa 2005). The poverty reduction proceeded slowly.…”

From Peasant Studies to Agrarian Change

“…it has failed to secure the support of the wider population of the rural poor'. 66 The influence of the rural vote on policies of rural development in Malaysia in the late 1950s and 1960s was analyzed by Doshi (1988), and V. Martinez-Alier and Junior (1977) provided a rare analysis of the electoral participation of agricultural workers, in the case of the Brazilian general election of 1974.…”