Rural Land Ownership and Development in the Malay Reservations of Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract

Malay Reservations in Peninsular Malaysia are areas demarcated for exclusive alienation to and settlement by Malays. They are the physical expression of a colonial policy intended to establish an indigenous Malay peasantry in the rural areas by "secur-ing to Malays their interests in land. "1) In order to protect Malay settlers from competition for land in the spate of land speculation sparked off by the scramble for land during the rubber boom of the early 19l0s, suitable areas in the country were delineated for cultivation and ownership by Malay inhabitants. 2) Beginning in 1914, various tracts of land of different sizes were gazetted as Malay Reservations from which dealings in land such as transfer of ownership, lease, and charging of land for loans were restricted to persons of the Malay race and Moslem religion. This legal prohibition was in sharp contrast with the freedom of land owners of non-Reservation land to carry out dealings in land. Consequently, Reservations represent an ethnically-oriented creation aimed at insulating Malay land owners from the influence and activity of non-Malay persons or corporations. The extent to which this policy was implemented varied in different States; in many cases, considerable areas were reserved for this purpose (see Fig. I). The dual objectives in the establishment of Malay Reservations were to preserve Malay interests in land and to promote permanent settlements based on agricultural production. These objectives have important implications in the economic development of the Reservations. As a means to safeguard Malay ownership of land in rural areas, the Reservations may be considered successfu1. 3) However, whether the mere retention of ownership of land will ensure effective agricultural development and permanent settlement in these areas for the benefit of the community concerned is an altogether different question. It is the purpose of this paper to assess land ownership and aspects of development of selected Malay Reservations by focussing attention on