Geography and the Environment in Southeast Asia: Proceedings of the Geology Jubilee Symposium, The University of Hong Kong, 21-25 June 1976

16. Youth Land Settlement Schemes in Malaysia

XVI YOUTH LAND SETTLEMENT SCHEMES IN MALAYSIA Wolfgang Senftl詢問 High rates of unemployment are characteristic of all developing countries and are a major criterion of underdevelopment. In Southeast Asia it is mainly the young generation within the age brackets between 15 and 25 years who cannot be integrated into the labour process. The problem of youth unemployment has become 11)0st urgent in Sri Lanka and Malaysia and both countries have recently experienced unrest amongst youth. Although the 1971 uprising by the Janatha Vimukhti Peramuna in Ceylon and the 1969 riots in Malaysia mlght have a much deeper politica1 and racia1 background,it may be assumed that these disturbances have been mainly initiated and carried out by unemployed and discontented youths. The Internatlona1 Labour Office (ILO, 1972) has drawn attention to the problem of you也 unemployment in a recent pub1ication entitled Youth training and employment schemes 飢 developing countries. This suggests solutlons through youth land settlement schemes. Appended to the ILO research paper are two case-studies, one on the Kenya Nationa1 Youth Service and the other on the Ceylon Youth Land Settlement Schemes. These suggest that the stream of future benefits would outweigh the high costs of develooment. Unemployment In Peninsular Malaysia is largely a phenomenon of the young. In 1962, 1965 and 1967/68 unemployment surveys were carried out and these showed 曲的 In 1962 more than 64 per cent of a11 registered unemployed belonged to the age group between 15 and 25 years. In 1967 the rate of youth unemployment has arisen sharply to exceed 75 per cent. This situatlon of mass unemployment among youth means not only a waste of va1uable nationa1 resources, but a1so provides a fruitful potentia1 source of socia1 unrest. The problem of youth unemployment in Ma1aysia is mainly confined to the Peninsular states which combine approximately 85 per cent of 226 WOLFGANGSENFTLEBEN the total population with only 40 per cent of the land area. It is one of the curiosities of the region is that despite serious unemployment problems, a regional and seasonal shortage of unskUled and semi-skilled labour can be noticed in East Malaysia and in Sabah's East Coast on a large number of estates, rubber cannot be tapped nor crops harvested because of a labour shortage. Young people, especlally, are very choosy about their jobs and reluctant to go to remote areas on contract labour because of strong family connections. The government's programme for labour migration from population surplus areas to Sabah under the Malaysla Migration Fund Board programme has not corrected the 加balance but can be considered a piecemeal solution. Malaysia's answer to the youth unemployment problem has many aspects . The country realized that the majority ofyouth can be only absorbed in the agricultural sector. On the lines of other land development projects, various state governments therefore started lalld schemes specifically for unemployed youths. During the Second Malaysia Plan (197。一 1975) the Federal government introduced 的 own type of Youth Land Schcmes Table 16. 1: Rate of Unemploymentln Pellinsula! 旦旦控sia for 1962, 1965 and 1967/68 (per cent) AlI Age Groups 1962 1965 1967/68 Metropolitan areas 9.6 9.8 10.1 Other urban areas 8.1 n.a. 10.0 Rural areas 5.0 n.a. 5.5 All areas 6.0 n.a. 6.9 Age Group between 15 and 25 Metropolitan areas 12.2 12.5 12.9 Other urban areas 17.4 n.a. 23.6 Rural areas 10.5 n.a. 14.5 All areas 12.7 n.a. 17.2 Sources. Department of Statìstics, 1963, Report on unemployment. employment and underemployment in the Federation ofMalaya. 1962, pp.8-10ò Department of Statistics. 1966. Report on unemployment and underemployment 加 merro­ po1itan towns for 1965; Department of Stal1stics. 1969. Malaysian socio. economic sample ωrvey ofhouseholds. 1967/1968. YOUTHSETTLEMENTSCHEMES 227 under the responsibUity of the Federal Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority, FELCRA. For vocational and disciplinary training for school drop-outs who later may join the youth land settlement programme, a National Youth Pioneer Corps has been set up at Dusun Tua, Selangor, and the Perak government plans to open another one similar to that at Dusun Tua_ The opening of virgln jungle land through g6vernment initia組ve began in 1957 and was spearheaded by the Federal Land Development Authority, FeLDA, (see Ho, 1965, and Wikkramatileke, 1965). In later years, other types of land development schemes were added for those people...