ONE would have thought, considering that READ : 95 per cent of paddy farmers are Bumiputras, the farmers plight would have been top of the agenda, alongside, how the farming community can have better access to banking facilities, modern technology and help in know how on how to upscale as well as to expand into other rice related sectors.
INSTEAD, what the Congress was bored with were some figures from Wahid Omar, the non executive chairman of Bursa Malaysia who played in key role the READ : Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP) investment panel that approved the RM4 billion loan to SRC International.
WAHID had the following to say at the Congress. READ : Only one out of 97 listed companies owned by Bumiputera.
AT least all those 97 companies listed on the stock exchange over the past three years are paying their Malaysian workforce much more than the required RM1,500 in minimum wage.
CAN, we say the same about the paddy farmers, in the sector in which Syed Mokthar Al Bukhary's Padi Beras Nasional Bhd, has had an iron clad monopoly for decades now?
I am afraid, we cannot, as according to the READ : 2022 AG's Report: Almost a quarter rice farmers earning below RM600 monthly
NOTHING good will come out from making a few super rich, while the rest of our breathen, such as those the paddy farming sector, earn almost RM1,000 less than a Bangladeshi foreign WORKER.
