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?