A total of 1,868 native customary rights (NCR) land owners here can expect a joyous celebration for the Harvest Festival this year when Boustead Pelita Kanowit Plantation Sdn Bhd pays out RM8.484 million in dividends from oil palm plantations.
Boustead Estate Agency senior general manager Datuk Shoib Abdullah handed over the dividend to the recipients’ representive who is Ngemah assemblyman Alexander Vincent during a function at Kanowit District Office hall on Friday.
It was the eighth dividend payment by Boustead Pelita Kanowit.
It has paid out RM30.5 million in total since the joint venture project began in 1996.
In his speech, Alexander said the implementation of the project was to improve the livelihood of the people.
“When it first started, there were many attempts to stop the project.
“But now many can see the results brought by the project including infrastructure development and dividend payments,” he said.
He noted that Kanowit still had plenty of land suitable for oil palm plantations.
He said the people should not listen to those instigating them against joining such a venture when there was opportunity to do so.
The figures speak for themselves. The NCR land owners received around RM4,500 each.
And this is only the 8th ‘dividend’ payment in nearly 20 years!
The total received by the landowners in those 8 payments is RM30.5 million, which means each family has received just RM16,000 in all that time!
What did they get paid for the timber that was stripped from their lands to make way for the plantation, because that was worth hundreds of millions of ringgit?
And, since the poverty line is RM1,000 a month, how have these ‘beneficiaries’ of the Sarawak’s obligatory ‘joint venture’ policy incremented their income – by working for RM15 a day on their own lands for the plantation company?
These people have not done well out of this venture, they are still dirt poor despite the profits made from their own lands.
By contrast, Boustead shareholders have made very good returns indeed – with a doubling of share prices in the past two years and regular share dividends of course!
One local person in Kanowit, who we do know is prospering very nicely is that local Assemblyman, who acted the representative on this occasion – Taib just tripled his salary after all.
So, of course he was urging to natives to turn over more of their lands in return for peanuts.