Pig farmers in Malacca have been ordered to get rid of 105,000 swine before September 21, reducing the number of pigs from 153,000 to 48,000. [IHT] Malacca state government has stressed multiple times that it is an environmental decision to cull the pigs and nothing racial… which is only half true in my opinion.
My maternal grandparents were pig farmers, and I have friends and relatives that are still in related business at the moment… I can assure you that it’s not easy to be a pig farmer in Malaysia. Let me share some past stories from what I know…
There were large numbers of pig farmers in 70s (or earlier). Those days pig breeding was not as profitable as these days, and most of the farms were small scale family business.
Lots of pig farmers were (still are) running their farms without permits, the government knew that but still allow the businesses to carry on. One of the reasons was to keep the social harmony; the other was that the government didn’t want to give out enough permits, so the ‘illegal’ business was allow to continue as the government had their own wrong doings (for not issuing permits) if they decided to close the farms.
However, all these years the pig farmers were under pressure for various reasons. In mid-80s there was a large relocation of pig farmers in Kinta Valley; the pig farmers were asked to shift their farms to a specific area, which was actually not a bad idea…
Problem was, most farmers were not compensated enough, and most of them did not have the financial capability to shift to the new area… hence a large number of farmers decided to give up on pig farming and change to other jobs. Besides, it was the golden era for ‘jumping-airplane’ aka working illegally overseas… many pig farmers didn’t show much hesitation to switch their profession.
The farmers that managed to shift to the new area were running their farms in a bigger scale and some of them have become quite rich. Their troubles didn’t end there though, as the government had requested that their farms must be equipped with proper waste management system… which was again a reasonable request. Problem was, the farmers were never provided proper technical or financial support.
Some of the farmers have invested a lot and worked accordingly to government request, while some hide under roof and managed their farm in a more traditional (and polluted) way. The government did sent their officials to check on the hygiene and pollution issues, but in Malaysia, everything can happen with the Ringgit sign… so the farmers survived.
There were large numbers of exodus during the JE or Nipah virus era that killed a few dozens of people. Lots of the pig farmers were nearing retirement by then and decided to retire from the business, and they are not many young people that are willing to do the dirty job.
Back to the current issue in Malacca…
Is pig farming as polluted as the Malacca government claims?
Yes and No. A nuclear plant can be hazardous; the recently announced Sarawak smelter plant can cause horrific environmental issues as well… the key to this matter is ‘proper management’. They are large numbers of pig farmers in Europe, but their pollution is kept to minimal, because it can be done.
It is probably true that large numbers of pig farms in Malaysia are not equipped with proper waste management infrastructure, and it could lead to serious pollution problem. The farmers should be partly blamed for that… but did our government ever try anything to help the pig farmers in handling the pollution? I don’t think so… all they did is to tell the farmers to upgrade or face closure.
A decent waste management system could cost over 6 figure, not all farmers are capable to do so. Besides, pig farms are constantly on the move; the farmers in Paya Mengkuang are lucky that their farms managed to stay there for all these years. Most farmers do know that in long run, they could still coup with the investment in proper waste management… problem is they don’t have permit in running their farms, and might be force to leave or abandon their business. Imagine the craze if they have just invested large sum of money and the next day are asked to tear down their farm.
It is a ‘chicken and egg’ story… government said that they will issue permits only to those that upgrade their system; while farmers said they will upgrade their system only if they are provided with permits.
Is there any racial element involved?
Again, Yes and No. I believe the decision to eliminate the numbers of pigs is made purely on environmental reason… but I think that the issue might be handled in a different way if it is not a purely Chinese business.
Besides, the racial element has to stretch to years ago, not just at the current moment. Chinese pig farmers are not fairly treated for decades compared to some other farming businesses; the government has never offered much help to pig farmers… if the government is genuine in helping the pig farmers, all they need is to provide proper technical and financial support to upgrade the waste management system. Why did the government chose not to do so?
MondiSaveYou is just too chosey, thats all!…he is a kind of person who likes innovation. He like pigs to be neatly shave, such as, not a single hair to be seen on those pigs. I advice those pig farmers use gillette, Gillette Control Plus.
Hi YeinJeei,
I agreed with your statements. I am involved in pig manure, goat manure and cattle manure. Most of the manure from cattle and goat manure goes into the drain un-treatment or raw but the pig farms are require to have treatment plant ( government practise double standard ). So this is not an environmental problems but more to the political or racial.
This is the kind of government we are having!!!
Uncleworm… I am not sure if we have any goat farm or cattle farm that are running in big scale like the pig farms… the pollution caused by goat/cow is probably not as focused to a specific area compared to pigs. Pig farms can caused huge pollutions, no doubt about that… I am questioning the government’s effort to coup with the pollution instead of just killing the pigs.
Uncleworm, beside using some better equipment to enhance the quality of your pigs (refer post #1), i advice too to at least be more generous to provide those “pigs enforcers” some ang pows during chinese new year.
Yein Jee
If you are not from Kuala Sungai Baru, don’t assume you are an expert on the issue of pig farming there. I am from there and I know how bad the pig farming industry has turn the small kampung into. Ever since I can remember the stench passing by Paya Mengkuang has been there since god knows when. What about the rivers there? Sungai Baru, Sungai Tuang … all are DEAD coz of this FUCKING CHINESE PIG FARMERS!!! Where are the so called enviromentalist to condemn this FUCKING CHINESE PIG FARMERS??? The so called champion of the earth. IT IS A NON RACIAL ISSUE!!! IT IS A SIMPLE ISSUE WHERE A SMALL GROUP OF GREEDY CHINESE PIG FARMERS MAKING BIG BUCKS BY SELLING THEIR PIGS TO CHINESE SINGAPOREAN AND IN RETURN POLLUTING THE WHOLE ENVIRONMENT OF KUALA SUNGAI BARU!!! PERIOD!!!!
Raft
Hey puki taik melayu, why are fucking chinese and then say it is a non racial issue? Cant you just say fucking pig farmers in kuala sungai baru? We the chinese make our big buck with wits and cunnings. Where is these fucking chinese save the money? Bank? so the bank is inside malaysia, right? and the bank will use the money to earn money, right? and been taxed by government, right? and then government “gives” the taxs money to bumiputra more, right? ASK YOUR GOVERNMENT TO BUILD SOMETHING THAT CAN MINIMISE THE POLLUTION LAR. DONT JUST COLLECT MONEY ONLY, WORK LAR.
Puki taik raft, watch words and dont pretend to be clever. In fact you are not.
Raft… I am not from Sungai Baru, and I didn’t assume that I am an expert of the pig issue at all. I am just sharing my stories and my thoughts.
I don’t deny that pig farming could be disastrous to the environment, just like lots of the other industry if it is not managed properly. The key to the situation is to find a solution that could settle the problem once and for all.
Killing the pigs could reduce the pollution in a small margin. The feces and waste will still flow into the water if no proper waste management systems are installed. I don’t want to repeat every word again what I have written in my original post… it is a chicken and egg story, and the pig farmers and the government will have to work on a solution for that.
I have also mentioned that the call for pig culling is based largely on environmental reasons… but I strongly doubt that there are no racial sentiment at all. Again, as written in my post… the racial issue I mentioned is not about this very moment, but has been stretching for years.
Now Yoyo (or is it Toyol)
…. cool it a bit there. Just because someone give a true perspective about what is going on in Kuala Sungai Baru (compare to the owner of this blog who is trying to divert the attention from the real issue and turning it into a RACIAL one), you want to follow suit as well??!!! Come on open up a bit la. Those Chinese pig farmers in Kuala Sungai Baru are a real FUCKERS. I mean if the Malay or Indian there rear pigs to get big bucks and in return pollute the environment, I will also call them FUCKERS. Don’t sway along the line talking about banking la, when clearly you are not an expert in it. I mean, I don’t want to sway by telling half truth story that generally Chinese are pest on this earth where clearly they make a mess where ever they migrated to places like Vancouver, Australia, New Zealand and for that matter Malaysia too; coz obviously I’m not expert in this. So lets keep it simple….. PIG FARMING POLLUTES THE ENVIRONMENT MORE SO WHEN ITS DONE BY GREEDY CHINESE FARMERS LIKE IN KUALA SUNGAI BARU. EVEN THE CHINESE SINGAPOREAN GOVERTMENT ALSO DOESN”T ALLOW SUCH HIGHLY LUCRATIVE INDUSTRY COZ THE DAMAGE TO ENVIRONMENT IS ALMOST IRREVERSABLE! PERIOD!!!
Okay Raft (or is it the pinhead expert)
…cool already. So you will not listen to anybody except “experts”? I am chinese, so you dont have to point to me why the chinese pig farmers in kuala sungai baru are fuckers. Just one question to you, why after so many years the authorities didnt take action regarding pollution on that area? i will answer you, it is because there are corruption involving authorities. So please refer to government officials regarding pollution on that area,…dont just blame the chinese pig farmers lar, they are too making living…what if these chinese pig farmers lose money? who will pay their loses? government arr? you arr?
The civilised countries such as australia, new zealand and canada of course knows how to deal with chinese immigrants. They talk about human rights, law and order, justice, equality, and security. You see raft, there is no government officials waving sword, there are dialogues and debates on how to improve everything, the government cannot act like samseng and commit attrocities against any minority in their country…you understand?…there is no favourtism.
Raft the pinhead expert,
As a chinese, i trully understand the idiotic of many chinese businessman. It is a kind of art, how to make profit with big margins. Due to stiff external competition and global economic downturn nowadays,…many goes bankrupt, many used to be director of companies are now hawkers. There are differences between made in malaysia chinese and made in china chinese, the made in malaysia chinese is malaysian citizen. The middle and rich made in malaysia chinese has little problem with their life but the poor ones has difficulties. Not only the chinese but also malays, indians and others. This is the most important issue the government has to solve. Equality among all race is not to be debate due to larger amount of poor malays compare to chinese, this i agree.
Since chinese is so good in earning big bucks, why not let a chinese to be minister of finance with authorities only to propose projects which will make big bucks for malaysia under the prime minister supervision? Do you agree?
appbennndaahhhhhhhhhhh
just go back to china if u chinese dont like to be malaysian lor…
The fault for this problem is COMPLETELY on the governments side. The pig farmers cannot build the waste management facilities, it’s not because they don’t want to. They cannot, not when the government officials refuse to grant them permits.
The problem over here lies with the way the government has handled this. If they were to issue temporary permits and state conditions to the pig farmers to continue on with their permits, conditions like(putting in a waste management facility) and enforce their conditions, there would not be any sort of problems like this. Why will they not issue enough permits? Simple enough. They want the pig farmers bribe money. It’s plain corruption that has led to this problem.
At the end of the day these pig farmers are running a business. There are risks that come with the business, you can call them greedy and selfish, but the fact is, for every 1 of this successful business. there are 9 others that have failed that you don’t see. So nobody can say that the reason these chinese BUSINESSMAN are successful is because they are greedy or because they don’t care about the environment, their simply the ones who managed to weather the waves and come out on top. They went through tough times and today their making money.
The government trying to get rid of the farmers simply because of their own incompetence in handling this issue is just typical of our Malay led government. Incompetent and corrupt. Typically, Malay.