ID :
132148
Fri, 07/09/2010 - 14:39
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/132148
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TUN RAZAK MY HERO, SAYS ECONOMIST
By Neville D'Cruz
MELBOURNE, July 9 (Bernama) -- A leading Australian agricultural economist has paid tribute to former Malaysian prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein for his vision in promoting land development schemes and improving smallholdings in Malaysia in the 1960s.
"Tun Abdul Razak was a personal hero of mine," Dr Colin Barlow told the
18th biennial conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia at the
University of Adelaide in South Australia Thursday, when he presented his paper
entitled "Malaysian Agriculture in Transition 1960-2010".
Dr Barlow said soon after arriving in Kuala Lumpur in 1963 to work at the
Rubber Research Institute, he realised rural agencies and research bodies
lacked the weight to improve Malaysian agriculture and much had to be done.
"What was needed in this 1960s situation was to focus much more on bettering
individual and group smallholdings. We needed a person with authority, having a
common touch and in tune with rural people's aspirations.
"And we found him in Tun Abdul Razak. He became the architect of giving
practical application to popular desires - a personal hero of mine."
Dr Barlow said Tun Abdul Razak, the then Deputy Prime Minister and the
Minister of Rural Development, was`an individual combining great vision with
skills in leadership and administration.
He facilitated the organisation of replanting and new land development
schemes, he said.
"Tun Abdul Razak engineered major improvements to rural education and
health, along with roads and other infrastructures, proceeding in the 1970s to
pioneer wider national transformation through the New Economic Policy," he said.
Dr Barlow, who has been involved in rural development for many years,
especially in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, told the
Adelaide conference "a further crucial initiative" of the 1960s in Malaysia was
the establishment of the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda), which was
fashioned after difficult beginnings into a highly successful body".
This opened up and managed many new planted areas, first under rubber and
later oil palm, he said.
A crucial key to Felda's success was Raja Muhammad Alias Raja Muhammad Ali,
a person who worked in the organisation for 35 years and was chairman for almost
half that time.
He was an effective and a visionary leader and administrator, without whom
the giant social enterprise was quite likely to have faltered and failed," Dr
Barlow said.
He said former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had pre-dispositions
towards developing agriculture and achieving socio-economic equity while his
predecessor Dr Mahathir Mohamad tended to emphasise the development of
manufacturing and the IT sector.
Dr Barlow, who has a deep attachment to Malaysia, said he was looking
forward to Prime Minister Najib Razak's New Economic Model, cited as the route
to Malaysia becoming a high-income nation.
"I profoundly hope it leads to Malaysia's continuing success," he said.
He said Malaysian agriculture, which has been described as a "third engine
of growth", has potential for further expansion, but it depended on the
intentions of future governments.
Dr Barlow has written several books on Malaysia, his most recent book was
titled "Malaysian Economics and Politics in the New Century" (Edward Elgar,
2003, edited with Francis Loh Kok Wah).
-- BERNAMA
MELBOURNE, July 9 (Bernama) -- A leading Australian agricultural economist has paid tribute to former Malaysian prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein for his vision in promoting land development schemes and improving smallholdings in Malaysia in the 1960s.
"Tun Abdul Razak was a personal hero of mine," Dr Colin Barlow told the
18th biennial conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia at the
University of Adelaide in South Australia Thursday, when he presented his paper
entitled "Malaysian Agriculture in Transition 1960-2010".
Dr Barlow said soon after arriving in Kuala Lumpur in 1963 to work at the
Rubber Research Institute, he realised rural agencies and research bodies
lacked the weight to improve Malaysian agriculture and much had to be done.
"What was needed in this 1960s situation was to focus much more on bettering
individual and group smallholdings. We needed a person with authority, having a
common touch and in tune with rural people's aspirations.
"And we found him in Tun Abdul Razak. He became the architect of giving
practical application to popular desires - a personal hero of mine."
Dr Barlow said Tun Abdul Razak, the then Deputy Prime Minister and the
Minister of Rural Development, was`an individual combining great vision with
skills in leadership and administration.
He facilitated the organisation of replanting and new land development
schemes, he said.
"Tun Abdul Razak engineered major improvements to rural education and
health, along with roads and other infrastructures, proceeding in the 1970s to
pioneer wider national transformation through the New Economic Policy," he said.
Dr Barlow, who has been involved in rural development for many years,
especially in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, told the
Adelaide conference "a further crucial initiative" of the 1960s in Malaysia was
the establishment of the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda), which was
fashioned after difficult beginnings into a highly successful body".
This opened up and managed many new planted areas, first under rubber and
later oil palm, he said.
A crucial key to Felda's success was Raja Muhammad Alias Raja Muhammad Ali,
a person who worked in the organisation for 35 years and was chairman for almost
half that time.
He was an effective and a visionary leader and administrator, without whom
the giant social enterprise was quite likely to have faltered and failed," Dr
Barlow said.
He said former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had pre-dispositions
towards developing agriculture and achieving socio-economic equity while his
predecessor Dr Mahathir Mohamad tended to emphasise the development of
manufacturing and the IT sector.
Dr Barlow, who has a deep attachment to Malaysia, said he was looking
forward to Prime Minister Najib Razak's New Economic Model, cited as the route
to Malaysia becoming a high-income nation.
"I profoundly hope it leads to Malaysia's continuing success," he said.
He said Malaysian agriculture, which has been described as a "third engine
of growth", has potential for further expansion, but it depended on the
intentions of future governments.
Dr Barlow has written several books on Malaysia, his most recent book was
titled "Malaysian Economics and Politics in the New Century" (Edward Elgar,
2003, edited with Francis Loh Kok Wah).
-- BERNAMA
