Monday, September 27, 2010

Farming Output Hampered from land shortage and workers

Chua: Shortage of land and workers hampering agro output
Monday September 27, 2010

YONG PENG: Farmers continue to be troubled with issues related to land relocation and lack of foreign workers, said Deputy Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Chua Tee Yong.

He added that the authorities need to come up with a long-term solution to these problems as it was important that the country be self-sufficient in food.

"Many farmers felt sidelined and unappreciated. They are forced to relocate because the plots of land given to them are being converted to residential or industrial land.

"The farmers are then left without land to farm in or are allocated smaller plots, where they cannot sustain their earlier production level," he said after attending a dialogue session with local farmers here recently.

Indonesian Workers in Cameron Highlands

There are many Indonesian workers in Cameron Highlands. There are about 2,000 of them working here in the Malaysian highlands. After all, Malaysia is just across the straights, easy to come over and we speak almost the same language (well there are some differences in the Malay usage, but we can get by). Malaysia seem to be the country of choice for many migrant workers coming from Myanmar, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines and of course Indonesia too.



Indonesian workers slam anti-Malaysia activists
By Ivan Loh
Monday September 27, 2010


CAMERON HIGHLANDS: A group of Indonesian workers here have denounced anti-Malaysia activists in their homeland for attempting to disrupt the peace in the country which provides their bread and butter.

Holding placards that say they want peace, the group of about 50 men and women gathered at the Tanah Rata bus terminal at noon for about 20 minutes yesterday to voice their concern about the strained relations between Malaysia and Indonesia.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

World Clean-up Day programme

‘World Clean-up Day’ programme will be held today (Saturday September 25, 2010) at MDCH, Tanah Rata, from 8am-12.30pm and will be officiated by Cameron Highlands Municipal Council president. All are welcome.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Cameron Highlands flower and vegetable traders in a huff over eviction notice

Cameron traders in a huff over eviction notice
By Ivan Loh
Friday September 24, 2010


IPOH: A group of flower and vegetable traders are up in arms following a notice to evict them from their stalls at Kea Farm, Cameron Highlands.

Flower trader Ramli Osman, 49, claimed that he and 17 others had received the eviction notice from the Cameron Highlands district office to make way for a commercial centre and apartments project there on July 29.

"We have been trading there for the past 17 years. It is unfair to ask us to leave abruptly," Ramli told reporters here yesterday.

"They want to relocate us somewhere nearby but that place is not strategic for our businesses."

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Asparagus from Cameron Highlands Malaysia

In Malaysia, locally-grown asparagus is available almost all year round, coming mostly from the Cameron Highlands and Mount Kinabalu in Sabah. Other states such as Perak and Malacca are also starting to grow the vegetable. The local variety is green and skinny, and not as succulent as its imported cousins.

Sweet, succulent and tender, asparagus is a superfood that is both healthy and yummy. Asparagus, in all its incarnations – green, purple or white – has inspired much love. Cultivated by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, asparagus, a member of the lily family – which counts onions, leeks and garlic as kin – has been a favourite of kings in the past. Its popularity doesn’t seem to be losing momentum in today’s society, which regards it as a premium vegetable.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Blue Valley estate workers in Cameron Highlands Salary Unpaid

Workers claim they have not been paid for months
Compiled by Ng Si Hooi, K. Ashraf Kammed and A. Raman
Saturday September 18, 2010


Makkal Osai reported that the Blue Valley estate workers in Cameron Highlands are claiming that they had not received their salaries for the past five months.

They claimed that the problem started after a private company bought the estate from the National Land Finance Cooperative Society.

Blue Valley MIC branch chief S. Cheran said that the estate management had failed to give any decision on the payment of the arrears.

He said he would set up a special fund in the name of the estate workers to help them overcome their daily expenses, children’s educational expenses and medical expenses adding that he hoped the MIC and other community leaders would contribute towards this special fund.

He said the Human Resources Ministry should look into helping the estate workers who had not been paid.

> Other News & Views is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item. -- The Star News