Article in the Berita Harian Online on the 12th February 2011

SUKA atau tidak, isu berkaitan tanah yang dihadapi secara serius di Cameron Highlands ketika ini ialah akibat hipokrasi tiga serangkai segelintir petani, ahli politik dan kakitangan kerajaan di kawasan tanah tinggi itu yang luasnya besar sikit dari Singapura.

Hipokrasi petani bertunjangkan sifat tamak-haloba mereka, ahli politik sama ada parti pemerintah atau pembangkang kerana mahu popular lalu sentiasa menyokong tindak-tanduk petani, manakala kakitangan kerajaan ialah kerana tabiat rasuah mereka!

Dengan gandingan gejala tiga serangkai ini, menjadikan isu berkaitan tanah di Cameron Highlands, penulis percaya tidak mungkin dapat diselesaikan segera. Ia mungkin memerlukan dua tiga generasi lagi ataupun, sehingga ekologi Cameron Highlands musnah ekologinya lalu menggugat kedudukannya sebagai kawasan tanah tinggi tarikan pelancong ataupun pengeluar tanaman bunga-bungaan, sayur-sayuran dan buah-buahan utama negara.

Sudah tentu ketiga-tiga kelompok ini tidak mengakui sikap hipokrit mereka. Sebaliknya, cuba mengalih pandangan dengan mewujudkan kambing hitam yang harus dipersalahkan dan jalan lebih mudah ialah dengan meletakkan kesalahan itu kepada kerajaan negeri.

Inilah yang mereka lakukan selama ini dan inilah juga yang dibayangkan oleh beberapa ahli politik yang menyentuh mengenai isu petani di tanah tinggi itu menerusi ucapan mereka pada Konvensyen Barisan Nasional (BN) Negeri Pahang 2011 di Dewan Jubli Perak Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, Kuantan pada 30 Januari lalu.

Mungkin tersalah ambil semangat ‘Rakyat Didahulukan’, tidak seorangpun daripada mereka yang bercakap mengenainya meletakkan kesalahan ke atas petani atau sekurang-kurangnya menasihatkan mereka supaya jadilah petani yang patuh undang-undang serta jujur. Sebaliknya, yang ahli politik ini sarankan ialah agar kerajaan negeri buat itu dan ini demi kononnya, untuk melancarkan lagi usaha petani dalam bercucuk tanam bagi menyara kehidupan mereka dan menyumbang kepada ekonomi negeri.

Satu daripada saranan itu ialah dengan menghentikan peraturan pembaharuan Lesen Pendudukan Sementara (TOL) setahun ke setahun, yang dilihat membebankan. Sebaliknya, mereka sarankan agar tempoh sah laku TOL itu dilanjutkan kepada lebih daripada cuma setahun. Ini kononnya kerana urusan memperbaharui itu saja mengambil masa yang agak lama hingga menyebabkan petani tidak layak mendapat pelbagai bantuan pertanian daripada jabatan dan agensi kerajaan selagi TOL mereka tidak mendapat kelulusan untuk pembaharuan oleh Pejabat Tanah dan Daerah.

Saranan ini bunyinya suci dan Menteri Besar, Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob pun selaku Pengerusi BN negeri bersikap diplomatik dalam hal ini ketika menggulung perbahasan pada penghujung konvensyen sehari itu.

Namun, ada sindiran yang dapat penulis hidu daripada reaksinya itu. Sambil beliau mengambil maklum saranan mereka, beliau turut membangkitkan betapa ada dalam kalangan petani yang kawasan TOLnya seluas cuma 0.810 hektar tetapi diterokai haram di kawasan bersebelahan dengan keluasan berkali-kali ganda!

Inilah hakikatnya. Malah, dengan tempoh sah TOL selama setahun sekarang ini pun penulis mendapat maklum, gejala itu tetap berlaku dan ia dipercayai akan terus berlaku akibat sikap tamak-haloba segelintir petani ini.

Dalam menangani gejala tiga serangkai yang penulis istilahkan sebagai The Cameron’s Little Napoleans ini, nampaknya tiada pilihan melainkan tindakan tegas perlu diambil terhadap mereka, malah tamatkan saja perkhidmatan kakitangannya yang berkhidmat secara kontrak dan juga ahli majlis yang turut menanam sayur secara haram hingga melimpah ke bahu jalan.

YOPE KEY-DARE,
Kuantan

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English translation:

3 parties responsible for destroying Cameron Highlands

2011/02/12

Whether one likes it or otherwise, serious land issues faced by Cameron Highlands now is a result of the hypocrisy of 3 parties namely a small group of farmers, politicians and government servants in this highlands which is slightly larger than Singapore.
The hypocrisy of farmers is due to their greed, the politicians whether from the ruling party or opposition, is due to their desire to be popular hence supporting the actions of the farmers whereas the hypocrisy of government servants is due to their ‘habit’ of corruption!  With the combination of these 3 factors, land issues in Cameron Highlands will remain unresolved anytime soon. It will probably take another 2 to 3 generations or  before the ecology of Cameron Highlands is destroyed resulting in the collapse of the highlands as a tourist attraction and a major source of production of flowers, vegetables and fruits for the country.
Of course these 3 parties will deny their hypocrisy. They will try to shift the blame and find a convenient scrap goat which is to blame the state government.
This is what they have done all along and this was also displayed by a few politicians when they brought up the farmers’ issues in the highlands in their speech at the Pahang Barisan Nasional Convention 2011 at the Jubilee Hall in Kuantan on the 30th January  2011.
Perhaps they have wrongly taken the spirit of ‘Citizens first’, as none of the politicians who spoke on this faulted the farmers nor at least advise the farmers to be law abiding and honest. Instead the politicians proposed that the state government do this and that ostensibly to increase farmers efforts in agriculture to support their livelihoods and contribute to the state’s economy.
One of the proposals was to cease the renewal of the Temporary Occupation License (TOL) yearly which is deemed to be a burden. Instead they proposed that the period of TOL be extended to more than a year. This is because the process of renewal takes a while till it jeopardizes the farmers eligibility to obtain assistance from various government agencies as long as they do not have approval for renewal of the TOL from the Land Office.
While this proposal sounds noble, the Chief Minister Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob as chairman of the State Barisan Nasional was diplomatic in his winding up speech at the convention.

However this writer detected some sarcasm from his reaction. While the minister took note of their proposal, he also brought up the issue of how some farmers when given TOL land of only 0.810 hectare illegally cleared adjacent land of sizes many times more.

This is the reality of it. Even with a TOL of only one year, this writer has received information that this illegal land clearing is still ongoing and it is believed that it will continue as a result of the greed of a small group of farmers.
To overcome the problems caused by these 3 parties which the writer termed The Cameron’s Little Napoleons , it looks like there is no other choice but to take stern action against them and to terminate the service of their contract workers as well as against district councillors who also practise illegal farming until it spills over to the road shoulders.