Forty years have rolled since the first revolt by rubber tappers and smallholders but the issue of low rubber price still niggles their lives today.
This time though the blow was harder as even the price sugar per kilogram superceded that of rubber, the very commodity that goes into innumerable non-consummables.
And instead of being rajahs on their land, smallholders live such doleful lives with very little to get by daily. The same can be said about tappers.
Why? Because they earn between RM400 and RM500 a month although rubber prices globally were comparatively higher.
In Dec 1974, about 30,000 rubber smallholders took to the streets in Baling to voice their dissatisfaction at the price of rubber that was 25 cents a kilo.
Just kilometres from the actual site of the original protest, rubber smallholders and tappers were heard belting out the same haunting tune.
Protesters, assisted by opposition leaders and cooperative groups, pointed out two main reasons to their continued hardship.
One was the weight disparity of rubber scrap, and two, the alleged unjust rubber price offered by exporters in Malaysia.
A smallholder who only wanted to be known as Budin said the stronger price of rubber in the world was not reflective here because of market forces where Malaysia imports more than exports.
About two years ago, he said, the global price of rubber reached RM7.20 per kg but that amount did not translate to higher profits here because it had to balance out Malaysia’s export and import scenario.
Hence, their call to the government to fix the floor price for rubber at RM4, seeing how the cost incurred by rubber tappers and smallholders amounted to RM3.20, a move that would cushion the impact of a price drop.
“Whilst having to compete with neighbouring countries such as Indonesia and Thailand to sell rubber, it lowers our price to make it alluring to buyers outside. “By doing so, smallholders are paid about RM2.30 per kilo for all the hardwork we put in. For tappers, it is even worse because they do not own the land. They have to split that amount with the landowner.
“Thus, if the ceiling price is fixed, we won’t lose out that much. We know it can be done because we see how smallholders and tappers in Thailand have managed to survive,” he said.
Budin added that the price fixture would also inadvertently prevent them from falling “victims” to rubber price speculation participated by 11 major rubber exporters in the country.
This would also enable rubber scrap producers to take home an exact rate for each kilogramme weighed instead of being subjected to the “guesses” by rural rubber factories on the amount of water contained in the raw product.
“Raw rubber scrap contains water. So when we take it to the factory, the person who weighs the scrap will make a guess on the water content. Most times, we lose out because they make the decision,” he said.
The 37-year-old with four children who sustained his livelihood by being a musician said his mother and siblings continue to work in their small rubber plantations in Padang Terap, Kedah daily.
He pointed out that although the northern region of Malaysia contributed about 50% of rubber produce nationwide, only 30 to 40% of people in this field were smallholders as most were tappers.
“A majority of smallholders only own about one acre of land. Life is very hard as you have start work about 3am to tap rubber before it gets hot. If it rains, we cannot work. If we don’t work, we don’t get money,” he said.
Perhaps that was the determination behind the protest by about 10,000 rubber smallholders, tappers, their families and friends at the Padang Awam Keda in Kupang that began at 3pm.
In fact, the torrent of rain could not disperse those gathered to demand for the increase of ceiling price for rubber to RM4 and to listen to their plight.
While leaders of PAS including its president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang, Persatuan Anak Peneroka Felda, and Universiti Malaya student group took to the stage amidst the rain, there was one person missing from the scene.
PKR defacto president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was then a youth leader, instrumental in organising the 1974 protests when food prices increased and rubber prices dropped, could not make it to the event.
Dubbed “Himpunan Derita Rakyat Baling 2.0”, the protest got people chorusing to the demands made by leaders to reduce the price of goods and raise subsidies.
PAS Youth chief Suhaizan Kaiat suggested that the government allow the Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) view the contracts of local exporters with their counterparts as a matter of transparency.
“It has been two years since MRB filed a request with the Attorney-General to allow it to view the contracts but nothing has come of that,” he said.
Persatuan Anak Peneroka Felda chairman Mazlan Aliman spoke on the demands of rubber smallholders and tappers and how there ought to be more research and development into rubber products.
“In 2010, we were the fifth largest producer in the world with contributions of RM12.96 billion or two percent to our export income but none of that is felt by the workers on the ground.
“Out of 1.4 acres of plantation, they only earn RM500,” he said, adding that though local rubber goes into tyres, rubber threads and gloves, better chances of demand would be if it went into engineering, medical and construction products.
Thus the need for more research that would inadevertently raise the livelihood of those who worked the plantations.
PAS information chief Datuk Mahfuz Omar saw history repeating itself 40 years later.
“After 40 years, what do you have? Only rubber factory operators earning more than you (rubber smallholders and tappers). Despite tapping 600 trees, you only earn RM65.
“Where is justice whilst the government talks about imposing the goods and services tax? I see history repeating here,” he told the crowd.
Hence, the passing of an eight-point resolution that included the demand for the RM4 floor price, the need to remove value-added tax, for dried rubber content to be determined scientifically and not by factories, and for subsidies to be given.
The resolution also insisted that the determination for standard Malaysia rubber prices offered by exporters that sat on the Malaysian Rubber Board consider the cost and effects borne by tappers and smallholders.
Once the pride of the country, rubber plantations stretched on vast lands, and flanked roads and rivers but with the gradual replacement of oil palm that boast quick returns, the “white gold” commodity has become a thing of the past.
But not the woes of the people who continue to suffer in the hands of capitalism.