A dream come true for Kuala Lawas folk

LAWAS June 28, 2016,: It was a moment that the first batch of shareholders of Ladang Rakyat Kuala Gemilang had been waiting for when they received the first dividend from this rural economic uplifting project in Kuala Lawas yesterday.
A total of RM514,000 was paid out to the 1,285 pioneer shareholders of the oil palm estate after the commercial agriculture venture was first mooted by a Form Six student from the village.

The year was 1978 and the current Head of State Pehin Sri Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud who was then Deputy Minister of Defence was visiting Kuala Lawas for a dialogue with the villagers.

He agreed that commercial agriculture and not subsistence farming was the way forward. The issue was brought up to him again when the school boy grew up and was elected Lawas state assemblyman in 1987.

He is Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, the seven-term assemblyman for Bukit Sari, Second Minister of Resource Planning and Environment and Minister of Industrial and Entrepreneur Development, Trade and Investment.

On Sunday, he witnessed the shareholders receiving the first dividend payment at the Datuk Pengiran Matusin Mosque, bringing them a timely Raya cheer. It also coincided with the BN Bukit Sari election thanksgiving ceremony and breaking of fast.

“It is a dream come true for us in Kuala Lawas where most of us only have a small plot of land which was not very arable and good for paddy planting in the past, and I was determined that every villager must be given an opportunity,” he said.

He believed that the Ladang Rakyat concept was the most suitable compared to block alienation of land for small individual lots.

“There are no individual titles but a single title and participants are shareholders,” he said.

Ladang Rakyat Kuala Gemilang covering 2,408 hectares was approved in 2009 and Land Custody and Development Authority (LCDA) was appointed its managing agent with a 10 per cent equity while the remaining shares were under the company set up by the villagers.

Felcra was appointed the developer of the project which kicked off in 2012 after signing of the agreement.

A total of 1,810.2 ha have been planted to date, out of which 880 ha are matured.

About 7,781 metric tonnes of fresh fruit bunches were harvested between January and May this year.

Awang Tengah thanked Felcra chairman Bung Mohktar for approving the first interim dividend.

“I want every villager aged 18 and above to be given the opportunity to own shares. This Ladang Rakyat is well-managed, efficient and cost-effective and any differences must be thrashed out through discussions,” he advised.

Awang Tengah called for professionalism, transparency and good practices in the management of the plantation to generate optimum profit for the shareholders.

Also present were Lawas MP Datuk Henry Sum Agong, Lawas district officer Hussaini Hakim, community leaders,

LCDA executive officer Sardi Ahmad, farm manager Abdul Wahab Jusoh and members of the Area Development Committee (ADC).

Sardi (ninth left) presenting a mock cheque for RM514,000 to Idris Kassim representing the shareholders of Ladang Rakyat Kuala Gemilang, witnessed by Awang Tengah (8th left), Henry (6th left) and community leaders.

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